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Yellow-crowned
Night-Heron
Identification Tips |
(Credit:
U. S. Geological Survey) |
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General
Information
- Sexes similar
- Fairly small, long-legged, short-necked heron
- Tucks neck in close to body in flight and often at
rest, rarely extending it
- Black bill
- Leg color varies with age, as with Black Crowns
- Long legs, with feet and part of legs extending
beyond tail in flight
Adult
- Red eyes
- Blue-gray neck, chest, back and belly
- Dark centers to back feathers
- Pale yellowish forehead and buffy-white crown
- Black face and chin with broad white auricular stripe
Juvenile
- Eyes yellowish to amber
- Head, neck, chest and belly dark gray-brown streaked
finely with buff and white
- Darker cap
- Wings and back darker brown with small white spots
at the tips of the feathers
- Greater secondary coverts with crisp white edgings
and small spots at tips
Immature
- Gradually acquires adult plumage over 2 years, losing
spotting and streaking and gradually acquiring face
and body plumage of adult
Similar species
Adult unmistakable. Immatures separated from American
Bittern by pale spotting on the upperwing, reddish eye, lack of
black neck spot, different shape, stouter bills and more even upperwing
coloration in flight. Juvenile separated from juvenile Black-crowned
Night-Heron by pale edgings on greater secondary coverts, smaller
spots about head and neck, larger bill and longer legs.
Immatures can show a variety of plumage characters so are best separated
from immature Black-crowns by their larger, thicker bill and longer
legs, although if remnants of juvenile plumage or the first hints
of adult plumage can be seen, the identification should be simplified. |
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