CLASS AVES

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Animals Kingdom (Animalia)

• Chordates (Phylum Chordata)

• Vertebrates (Subphylum Vertebrata)

• Birds (Class Aves)

The yellow-crowned night-heron is a medium sized, short-legged wading bird. Adults are blue-gray with a black-and-white patterned head. The head of the adult is black with a yellow-white crown and a white cheek patch. Eye color is red in adults. Yellow-crowned night-herons are specialist feeders and prey almost exclusively on crustaceans, such as fiddler crabs, marsh crabs, and blue crabs in marine habitats, and on crayfish in freshwater habitats. The large bill of the night-heron is well adapted for crushing the shells of crustacean prey.