Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Cormorants, Pelicans, & Herons
Casual
![Black-crowned Night-Heron](/sites/default/files/upload/image/black-crowned_night-heron1.jpg)
Black-crowned Night-Heron, adult
Newport Beach, CA © Tom Benson
![Black-crowned Night-Heron](/sites/default/files/upload/image/black-crowned_night-heron2.jpg)
Black-crowned Night-Heron, juvenile
Huntington Beach, CA © Tom Benson
The Black-crowned Night-Heron is a casual visitor to campus with several records between late March and early June, either in the flooded basins around Badger Hill or migrating over campus. The Black-crowned Night-heron is a common breeding resident in southern California.
The adult Black-crowned Night-heron can be identified by its black crown and back, gray wings, and grayish white underparts. Juvenile birds have brown upperparts with white spotting, a brownish head, and pale underparts with heavy brown streaking.