BT Wild ART - A unique Journey to the wilderness: Night Raven

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed the summer vacation with your family but considering the heat outside it is difficult to take the family to places apart from the hill station. Hence would suggest if you did not plan a visit to the forest this time, you may consider the month of October or November which will treat you with lovely greenery and pleasant weather conditions. Please feel free to contact btwildart@gmail.com for planning the wilderness.

From the past few weeks, we saw various trip reports where learning was kept aside hence today let me take you back to the learning track. Therefore, to decide the topic I open my memory world and decided to introduce a unique bird which is different from others with its behavior. Normally we have seen some nocturnal animals like hyena and Wolf but never heard about a nocturnal bird which is unique in itself hence I decided to go for Night Heron, let us move to the next section to explore the bird in detail.

The Nightlife

In general, it is known as Nycticorax derived from the Greek for “Night Raven.” It refers to Night Raven because of nighttime hunting habits and their harsh crow-like call that is uncommon in birds; they hunt at night or early morning then rest during the day. This bird is also known as black-crowned night heron because of the croaking crow-like call. Apart from hunting, the facts of these birds are interesting as well; some of them are mentioned hereunder for your learning.

Some regions of the world refer to the Black-crowned Night Heron by an onomatopoeic name – for example in the Falkland Islands it is called a “Quark,” in the Netherlands, it’s called a “Kwak,” and so on

Young Black-crowned Night Herons will vomit up the contents of their stomachs as a defense mechanism

Black-crowned Night Herons will often nest with other species of birds such as other Herons, Ibises, and Egrets. They will even care for chicks from other species if they are placed in their nests

The Black-crowned Night Herons may have evolved their nocturnal feeding habits in order to avoid competition from other species of birds

The Q&A

Apart from the unique facts, you have some questions regarding routines of such species hence providing you these details in Q&A form

How they look? I mean appearance

Black crown and back, white belly, white or yellow face, red eyes, yellow legs, and long white plumes on back of the head. The appearance will be clearer when you visit the Photoshop section

How do they feed?

They may attract fish by dipping their bill into the water and vibrating it rapidly, creating a disturbance in the water that mimics motions made by prey of the fish. Once they have caught prey, they shake their head rapidly, much like a dog, until the prey is stunned or killed. Being opportunistic eaters, they will also eat carrion, almost any kind of small animal, plant materials, and garbage at landfills

Are Night Herons social?

Black-crowned Night Herons tend to hunt on their own, but during the day will nest together in colonies. Colonies can have up to 12 nests in a single tree. These colonies have been known to carry on for more than 50 years

How fast do Night Herons fly?

Night Herons can fly up to 55km per hour

What food they eat?

They primarily eat small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, and small mammals. During the day, they rest in trees or bushes