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Yellow-crowned Night Heron on Genovesa Island, The Galapagos

Genovesa Island

Galapagos

Off The East Coast Of Ecuador

South America

 

Click on image to enlarge.

 

Found in a tide pool down by the shore of the island.

 

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea, formerly placed in the genus Nycticorax), also called the American Night Heron or squawk, is a fairly small heron. It is found throughout a large part of the Americas, especially (but not exclusively) in warmer coastal regions; an example occurrence is the Petenes mangroves of the Yucatan.

 

Adults are about 61 cm (24 in) long and weigh 625 g (22.0 oz). They have a white crown and back with the remainder of the body grayish, red eyes and short yellow legs. They have a white stripe below the eye. Juveniles resemble young Black-crowned Night-Herons, being mainly brown flecked with white or gray.

 

Their breeding habitat is swamps and marshes from the eastern United States to north-eastern South America. They often nest in colonies, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. They lay 3–5 pale blue-green eggs.

 

 

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Uploaded on February 18, 2020
Taken on April 3, 2013