The adult Black-crowned Night Heron is a short, stocky bird easily identified by its black colored crown and back, white torso, blue-grey wings, yellow legs, and piercing red eyes. During the breeding season, two long, thin, white plumes extend from the back of the head, and the legs turn color from yellow to pink. Young Night Herons are primarily brown and grey with white spotting on the wings and a mottled chest. Adult plumage is acquired during the third year.

Night Herons inhabit a variety of wetland habitats such as swamps, marshes, lakes, and rivers. Found throughout the United States and Southern Canada, Night Herons can be found as far south as Central America and the Caribbean. Here at Gatorland we have several Night Herons that stay with us all year-round, and can be spotted frequently during the later part of the day. As the name implies, Night Herons are very active during the evening hours, feeding when most of the other birds are asleep. Opportunistic feeders, their diet consists of a wide variety of items such as fish, lizards, frogs, rodents, carrion, and small birds.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 3:42 am and is filed under The Birds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.