Adult: large head with black crown, red eye, pale forehead, dark lores and thick, pointy, dark bill. Several long, thin white plumes. Pale face and throat, short pale gray neck, pale gray underparts and wings. Black back and dark green. Short gray tail. Yellow legs. Breeding plumage: plumes longer, bright pinkish/red legs. Second year: like basic adult with brownish tinge on hind neck, wings and underparts. First summer: dark brown cap, pale brownish face and forehead, heavy, pointed, pale bill with dark culmen and tip, brownish, slightly streaky neck, dark brown back with slightly paler brown wings, pale whitish belly and dull yellow-green legs. Juvenile: large head, short neck; stocky. Smudgy brown head and red eye; heavy, pointy, pale bill with dark culmen and tip. Large white spots on grayish-brown wings. Brown underparts with broad blurry streaks on belly, and greenish-yellow legs. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron similar to juvenile and first-year Black-crowned, but more slender overall, with all dark bill, and minor plumage differences.

Length: 64 (cm) Wingspan: 112 (cm)

Voice:

Flight call: flat, barking gork. Quark. Other calls similar.

Habitat:

Wet fields, shallow ponds, fresh and salt-water marshes, streams, and swamps. Utilizes trees and shrubs for roosting and nesting.

Behavior:

Mainly nocturnal. Grasps prey with beak. Nests in colonies in trees.

Feeding:

Diet consist mainly of fish. Also feeds on wide variety of food including small mammals, reptiles, eggs, amphibians, crayfish, mussels, leeches, insects, earthworms, carrion, plant material and garbage.