The Story
This Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) was at Reserva Natural Hato Berlín in Trinidad, Casanare, Colombia when I photographed it. Young birds have orange eyes and dull yellowish-green legs. It is migratory in the north of its range but resident elsewhere. It usually rests in a hunched posture, but it stretches out its neck when hunting. Hato Berlín is a civil-society nature reserve on the Casanare savanna, about 10 km from Trinidad, where capybaras, caimans, turtles, monkeys and savanna and marsh birds can be seen. IUCN lists the Black-crowned Night Heron as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100. The Safari Llanero at Hato Berlín lets visitors watch and photograph wildlife in its habitat and share the culture and food of the people who live there.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025). Source: IUCN Red List