Black-crowned night heron

Black-crowned night heron

The Black-crowned night heron is a medium-sized heron that occurs in a broad range of fresh, brackish and salt-water habitats.
In Belgium however, this bird is very rare.

It's a solitary night bird that has an excellent vision and hunts mostly in the dark, waiting motionless in or along the water for its prey (mainly fish, crustaceans and frogs).

During the day this bird hides in dense thickets as you can see in my picture.

Dutch name : Kwak
German name : Nachtreiher
Latin name : Nycticorax nycticorax

Location : Nature reserve ‘Noordelijk Eiland’ at Wintam (Belgium)