Black crowned night heron

http://www.larkwire.com/library/bird-sounds/254/Black-crowned-Night-Heron-songs-and-calls
 

Black crowned night heron Nycticorax nycticorax 

The Black crowned night heron belongs to Ardeidae family. 



They have long yellow legs. Red eyes, brown bill. The body is grey and black and the head is black. The young have yellow bills, brown body with small white spots. 

They are crepuscular. They are found in the wetlands, fresh, brackish and salt water, marshes and estuaries. 
They are very social and nest in large groups.

They are opportunists and feed on insects, fish, amphibians, lizards, plants, small rodents and birds. They catch their prey standing and waiting for it to go past them, when it does, they lunge and holds it tight in their bills and then swallowing it whole. 

The male finds the nesting site. The courtship involves neck stretching, hissing and pumped up feathers to increase his size. The nests are in the trees, the female constructs the nest. The female lays about six eggs, incubation is twenty six days. The male and female give the young regurgitated food. Seven weeks they leave the nest to go out the mother and father.

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Allaboutbirds.org, (2015). Black-crowned Night-Heron. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crowned_Night-Heron/lifehistory [Accessed 15 Apr. 2015].

Audubon, (2014). Black-crowned Night-Heron. [online] Available at: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-crowned-night-heron [Accessed 15 Apr. 2015].