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Common throughout the Great Plains, Black-crowned Night-Herons use a variety of
different habitats, including wetlands, pastures and coastal areas. Primarily active at
night, dusk and dawn, they also feed during the day. They are opportunistic feeders eating
fish, amphibians, reptiles, rodents, invertebrates and even bird eggs and chicks. They are
colonial nesters, most commonly rebuilding old nests of sticks and reeds in bulrush stands
or in trees. Immatures are most likely confused with American Bitterns and immature
Yellowcrowned Night-Herons. Black-crowned Night-Herons are stockier with thicker necks,
browner backs, longer, thinner bills and paler necks, chests and bellies. In flight, their
feet barely extend beyond the tail. Adults of both night-heron species develop long,
off-white head plumes during the breeding season. Black-crowned Night-Herons take 2-3
years to reach sexual maturity.
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