Adult Black-Crowned Night Heron Meet one of my favorite birds, the Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), the Heron with the largest habitat in the world. Its range covers five continents, and still manages to show up here!
A medium sized bird that is almost always found near water, it has no problem hunting for crayfish, fish, amphibians, and snakes in both daylight as well as night.
For some unknown reason, years ago I started calling them "deadly" night herons, and I often have to stop and think before I talk to people about them, I guess I got the nickname for them from their sinister hunched over appearance, and well as the blood red eyes sported by the adults.
Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron The best place to catch these guys around here is the Falls of the Ohio State park in summer, where with a little patience and sitting still near the shallow rapids near the spillway, they will come in close to you, wade and hunt in the rapids fairly close to you.
As summer winds down, and fall sets in, a good population of this majestic little guys can be found hanging out near the bald eagle exhibit in the Louisville Zoo, I have seen them there as late as winter proper, and they will become so comfortable with people that they will sit perfectly posed at eye level as close as 10 feet away. However, just be aware that a juveniles will readily vomit the contents of their stomachs if they are frightened, so it would be a very goo thing to keep your distance! (unless of course you would like to be splattered with regurgitated fish!)
So with a range spanning over 5 continents, coastlines, jungles, tropics and temperate climates, urban environments to isolated environments, this is one tough bird and a testament to the power of evolution and adaptability, no wonder it is one of my favorite birds.
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