- Yellow-crowned Night Heron
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Yellow-crowned Night Heron 
Yellow-crowned night heron at a pond in Tarpon Springs, FL. Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Subclass: Neornithes Infraclass: Neognathae Superorder: Neoaves Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae Genus: Nyctanassa Species: N. violacea Binomial name Nyctanassa violacea
(Linnaeus, 1758)Synonyms Nycticorax violaceus
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea, formerly placed in the genus Nycticorax), also called the American Night Heron or squawk, is a fairly small heron, similar in appearance to the Black-crowned Night Heron. It is found throughout a large part of the Americas, especially (but not exclusively) in warmer coastal regions; an example occurrence is the Petenes mangroves of the Yucatan.
in Brazos Bend State Park, USA
A related heron, the Bermuda Night Heron, was endemic to Bermuda, but became extinct following human colonisation.
Contents
Description
Adults are about 61 cm long and weigh 625 g. They have a white crown and back with the remainder of the body grayish, red eyes and short yellow legs. They have a white stripe below the eye. Juveniles resemble young Black-crowned Night-Herons, being mainly brown flecked with white or gray.
Behavior
In warmer locations, some are permanent residents; others migrate to Central America and the West Indies. They may occasionally wander north to the lower Great Lakes or Ontario after the breeding season.
Feeding
With food in Florida, USAThese birds stalk their prey or wait in ambush at the water's edge, mainly at night. They mainly eat crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, aquatic insects and small fish.
Breeding
Their breeding habitat is swamps and marshes from the eastern United States to north-eastern South America. They often nest in colonies, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. They lay 3–5 pale blue-green eggs.
References
- BirdLife International (2008). Nyctanassa violacea. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 4 February 2009. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.
- World Wildlife Fund. 2010. Petenes mangroves. eds. Mark McGinley, C.Michael Hogan & C. Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
- Stiles and Skutch. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
Gallery
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Flying
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Yellow-crowned Night Heron chick in Texas
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Immature in the Galápagos Islands
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Beach in Boca Raton, Fl.
External links
- Bermuda Audubon Society.
- Bermuda Online: Bermudian Fauna.
- Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo Biodiversity Project.
- Field Guide Page on Flickr
- Stamps bird-stamps.org (with RangeMap)
- Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the Internet Bird Collection
Categories:- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Nycticorax
- Wading birds
- Birds of the United States
- Birds of Puerto Rico
- Natural history of Bermuda
- Birds of Bermuda
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
- Birds of North America
- Birds of Central America
- Birds of the Caribbean
- Birds of South America
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
