Adult: This night-heron is a hunched-up stocky bird sporting a black crown with thin white aigrettes at nape. Back is black. Wings and sides of neck are gray. Underparts white. Red-orange eyes, a business-like dark flattened bill designed to crack mollusk shells, and stubby yellowish legs complete its array. Night-herons appear tame, seeming tolerant of people.

At Breeding time, the aigrettes on back of neck are longer.

Immature: It may take some study to distinguish the young of the Black-crowned Night-Heron from those of the yellow-crowned. The black-crowned young of the year is a brown bird lavishly spotted with white, becoming streaky underneath and brown above in the second year. It has shorter legs and yellowy eyes and a bill that is longer, more narrow and less dark.

Habitat: Salt marshes. Lakeside and stream shorelines in thick shrubbery and bushy trees, or at water’s edge. Forested swamps - fresh or salt. mangroves. It is surprising to find night-herons along waterways in urban areas. The birds are no fools; they have worked it out that bright lights can attract insects and fish, signaling happy hunting grounds for a hungry heron.

Florida Resident. Usually nests (December-July) in multi-species heron rookeries.

Text by Mary Jean Rogers, West Volusia Audubon.