The Yellow Crowned Night Heron is a difficult one to see. It's called a night heron because of its nocturnal habits. It likes a cool sleeping spot and nesting over still water. It seems to pick dark shade deep in the savanna woods at lagoon's edge or in a gallery of trees that stand in water.
It lays pale blue-green eggs in a platform of sticks with a depression in the center that's lined with leaves . . . not easy to visit as it seems to prefer branches that protrude over water. Watch for crocodiles!
This night heron has a truly unusual appearance. It looks a little like a Boat Billed Heron in that it's short and stocky for a heron with big eyes. The bird's iris is a rich, reddish orange and its bill is thick and shaped like a spear point, not as wide and blunt as a Boat Billed, but unlike any other heron.
It has a yellow crown, of course, and it swept back to a point behind its black head. A patch of white on each side of its head seemed to flow from the eyes, lower front corner to the back of its head, to assist its vision over reflective water.
Its body color is a powder blue or grayish. Each feather of its folded wings was lined in white. During its breeding season it has long, white occipital plumes protruding from its nape. Its legs are a yellowish green and it stands in water about 2 or 3 inches deep to snatch small coral blue crabs. It throws them down its throat in a typical heron manner.