Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea, Juvenile. Bird photographed in the greater Zihuantanejo area, Guerrero, March 2019. Photograph courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea, Juvenile. Bird photographed in Parque National Huatulco, Huatulco, Oaxaca, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photograph taken in the coastal area of Yavaros, Sonora, March 2020. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photographs taken in the greater Zihuantanejo area, Guerrero, March 2019. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photographs taken in the Galapagos Islands, August 2009.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. A resident of Aqua Verde, Baja California Sur, March 2019. Photographs courtesy of Barry Mastro, Escondido, California. Identification courtesy of Clark Mahrdt, Escondido, California.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Bird photographed within the confines of the Loreto Marina, Baja California Sur, July 2023. Photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California, taken in the coastal region of Guatemala, March 2020.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photograph taken in the coastal area of Yavaros, Sonora, November 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea. Photograph taken in the coastal area of Yavaros, Sonora, December 2017. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea, is a member of the Ardeidae Family of Herons, Egrets and Bitterns. They are mid-sized in stature. In Mexico they are found in the coastal regions within the Atlantic Slope from Tamaulipas to Belize, including the Yucatán Peninsula, and within the Pacific Slope within the Baja and from Sonora to Guatemala at elevations below 730 m (2,400 feet). From a conservation perspective the Yellow-crowned Night Heron is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are found in coastal area in barrier and bay islands and in swamps, forested wetlands and in forested areas near rivers and lakes. They consume crustaceans that include land and shallow water crabs and limited amounts of centipedes, crayfish, snails and fishes.