The Story
On June 25, 2017, I photographed this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) at the Charca de Guarinocito near La Dorada, Caldas, Colombia. It stands still at the water’s edge to ambush its prey, mainly at night, early in the morning or in the evening. Its scientific name, nycticorax, comes from the Greek for night raven. It nests in colonies, on stick platforms in groups of trees or on the ground in safe places such as islands and reedbeds, and its colonies are noisy with quok calls.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Black-crowned Night Heron as Least Concern, and people living around the lagoon see the birds as an attraction for visitors and do not allow them to be hunted.
©2018 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