Species: Nycticorax nycticorax
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
especially at dusk or after dark.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Ciconiiformes
Family
Ardeidae
Genus
Nycticorax
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Garça-Dorminhoca - Pedrete Corona Negra, Garza Bruja - bihoreau gris
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Wading Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Ciconiiformes - Ardeidae - Nycticorax - Constitutes a superspecies with N. CALEDONICUS (AOU 1998).
Ecology and Life History
especially at dusk or after dark.
Migration
true - true - true - Arrives in northern breeding areas March-May, departs by September-November. Extensive postbreeding dispersal to areas outside breeding range (Palmer 1962).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Feeds opportunistically on small animals; usually fishes, amphibians, and invertebrates obtained in shallow water but also small mammals and young birds on land.
Reproduction Comments
Breeding season varies geographically, occurs in spring-early summer in north, earlier in Florida. Clutch size usually is 3-5 in north, 2-4 in south. Incubation lasts apparently 24-26 days, by both sexes. Young are tended by both sexes, first fly at about 42 days. Usually first breeds at 2-3 years. Nests in small to large colonies. See Custer et al. (1983) for data on certain Atlantic coast colonies.
Length
64
Weight
883
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-20
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-20
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: Washington, southern Idaho, Saskatchewan, Michigan, and Nova Scotia south to southern South America, including Antilles; also Hawaii (Niihau to Hawaii). See Spendelow and Patton (1988) for information on distribution and abundance of coastal U.S. breeding populations (most coastal breeders are along Gulf Coast and Atlantic coast north of Florida). NORTHERN WINTER: north to Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, lower Ohio Valley, Gulf Coast, and southern New England. In the U.S., the highest winter densities occur in the vicinity of inland wildlife refuges near the California-Oregon border, along the northern California coast (Humboldt Bay), in the San Joaquin Valley of California, along the lower Colorado River, near Galveston Bay in Texas, and along the coast near Jacksonville, Florida (Root 1988). Also occurs in the Old World and on other Pacific islands.
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)