Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax is a stocky, thick-necked, large-headed, dark blue and white heron. Breeding adult (above) has nuchal plumes. Common resident Shanghai, from suburban and coastal areas to inner-city parks. Virtually cosmopolitan; occurs Europe to India, Japan, and Greater Sundas as well as Africa and the Americas. In China nycticorax is common in eastern and southern lowlands, also Xinjiang. Photo: Cape Nanhui, Shanghai, May. (Craig Brelsford)Like other herons, Black-crowned Night Heron flies with legs outstretched and head and neck drawn back. Often flies in groups at dusk, but (as here) can be seen singly and during the day. Century Park (31.214850, 121.550845), Shanghai, July. (Craig Brelsford)Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron is streaked brown and whitish. Nanchang (28.950667, 115.965667), Jiangxi, China, elev. 40 m (130 ft.), April. (Craig Brelsford)At a rookery a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron flies with adults in background. Black-crowned Night Heron nests colonially, sometimes with other species, in trees over water. This rookery, in Nanchang (28.950667, 115.965667), Jiangxi, consisted of Black-crowned Night Heron as well as Medium EgretArdea intermedia and Great EgretA. alba. (Craig Brelsford)
MacKinnon, John. Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press, 2022.
Martinez-Vilata, A. and A. Motis. Species account for Black-crowned Night Heron in family Ardeidae (Herons). P. 419 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, 1992.
