{"id":7213,"date":"2013-01-22T03:55:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T10:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7213"},"modified":"2026-02-02T09:02:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:02:47","slug":"comparing-black-crowned-and-yellow-crowned-night-herons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/22\/comparing-black-crowned-and-yellow-crowned-night-herons\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Comparing<\/p>\n

The adult Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons aren’t terribly difficult to tell apart though the juveniles can be more of a challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Black-crowned Night Herons<\/span><\/a> have red eyes,\u00a0a black crown and white plume, a short white to pale gray neck, a very pale gray belly, a solid black back and\u00a0pale yellow legs that a red during breeding season. Black-crowned Night Herons have a black bill that is shorter and more slender than a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. They appear chunky and squat compared to a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Yellow-crowned Night Herons<\/span><\/a> have orange-red eyes,\u00a0\u00a0a white crown with a slight yellow tint & white plume, they have a black head with a white cheek patch, a\u00a0long slender gray neck and belly, a gray back with a pattern and yellow legs. Yellow-crowned Night Herons have a thick black long\u00a0bill. They appear slender compared to a Black-crowned Night Heron.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Comparing<\/p>\n

The juveniles are slightly more difficult to ID but some features make them easier to identify.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons are chunky and squat like the adults and have short necks. The bill of a juvenile is dark on top and green to yellowish on the bottom, the lores are sometimes a greenish color and the wings have large white spots on a brown back.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons are slender in appearance and have long slender necks. The bill of a juvenile is mostly black and the back and wings have fine spots and the overall color is darker than a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Additionally, geographic location\u00a0should be taken into account when making an identification in that\u00a0Black-crowned Night Herons have a much larger range that covers most of the United States into southern Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Yellow-crowned Night Herons are found mainly on the east coast of the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Comparing Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons isn’t all that difficult if you know what to look for.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Black-crowned Night Heron photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Yellow-crowned Night Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adult Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons aren’t terribly difficult to tell apart though the juveniles can be more of a challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,163,321,697,25,704,26,93],"tags":[4004,215,1533,4804,4827,627,626,5083,5084,4067,4071,3956,3957,313,95],"class_list":["post-7213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-bird-identification","category-black-crowned-night-herons","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-utah","category-yellow-crowned-night-heron","tag-adult","tag-bird-id","tag-black-crowned-night-heron","tag-comparing","tag-differences","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-identifying-immature-night-herons","tag-identifying-night-herons","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-wading-birds","tag-yellow-crowned-night-heron"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-crowned-black-crowned-night-heron-adults-mia-mcpherson.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Sl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":114019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/28\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":7213,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Until a few days ago, I hadn't photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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– Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"To the untrained eye American Bitterns and Black-crowned Night Herons can be confused so I thought I'd visually compare the two species with other keys to aid in their identification.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bitterns"","block_context":{"text":"American Bitterns","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/wading-birds\/american-bitterns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bittern standing on one leg, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-bittern-adult-mia-mcpherson-6498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-bittern-adult-mia-mcpherson-6498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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crawdad,Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109677,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/18\/immature-black-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":7213,"position":4},"title":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron – Where Are The Birds?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While going through my archives I found this photo of a fishing immature Black-crowned Night Heron taken 10 years ago today at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron fishing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/black-crowned-night-heron-young-fishing-mia-mcpherson-2077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron in flight against a clear blue sky, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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