Black-crowned Night Heron

On the edge of water

As the name suggests, Black-crowned night herons are closely related cousin of pond herons, which I have mentioned in a previous post. Relatively less common than pond herons, the males are very distinguishable from pond herons, with a black coloured shield running from the back of their head. The red-colour of their eyes also stand out like anything.

A little more shy than pond herons, they are usually active around twilight, mostly resting during the day. Hence the name 'night heron'. It's legs are a pale pink in coour, with a shade of brown in its lower parts of the wings.

Food habits are closely related to pond herons, mostly being fishes, frogs, insects etc.

Me and my friend were able to catch sight of this bird in Gudavi bird sanctuary, on the same visit when we saw white ibises.

Scientific name for this bird is Nycticorax nycticorax.