The Story
I photographed this Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) at the Raudal del Guayabero, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. Adults have a black crown and back, with the rest of the body white or gray, red eyes and short yellow legs, while young birds have orange eyes. It nests in colonies on stick platforms in trees, and it is one of seven herons seen bait fishing, tossing objects onto the water to lure fish within reach. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/2000 sec, f/11, ISO 800, −2 EV. An hour’s climb above the Raudal leads to rock paintings of tapirs, lizards and ritual dances, which have not been dated exactly but may be 7,000 to 12,600 years old.
©2022 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