Black-crowned Night Heron

• comportamientoIt is a heron of mainly nocturnal or crepuscular habits, unlike most herons, and hunts by standing still at the water's edge waiting for prey.
• Its scientific name means literally 'night raven': in flight it gives a hoarse croak reminiscent of a crow's, which is also the source of its Andalusian folk name, garza bruja, the witch heron.
• It begins its activity just as the other herons in the colony retire to roost, which reduces competition for the feeding grounds.
• In the Ebro delta the eating of other birds has been documented in its diet, a trait more typical of American than of European populations.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

The middle and lower reaches of large rivers and Mediterranean-facing wetlands with abundant marsh vegetation and well-preserved banks. Rarely above 200 m of altitude. Practically absent from the Cantabrian coast, Galicia and the Pyrenean area

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

25 days

Litter / clutch size

4

Sources consulted: SEO/BirdLife (ficha y III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España); IUCN Red List; Asturnatura; Wikipedia (Nycticorax nycticorax); estudios sobre alimentación de pollos en el delta del Ebro y las marismas del Guadalquivir (Ardeola)

Best time: From spring to summer, at dusk, when it leaves the heronry for its feeding grounds