There have been few consistent reports concerning the frequency and success of nesting attempts by immature night herons of the genus Nycticorax. One- year-old Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) mated to 2-yr-old or older birds built nests and incubated eggs in the wild (Gross 1923). In a captive colony, many 1-yr-old pairs of night herons courted and built nests, and one pair successfully raised four young (Noble and Wurm 1942). One pair of 1-yr-old night herons laid eggs but did not produce young in a captive colony at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (H. Ohlendorf pers. comm.). Breeding among 1-yr-old birds of the closely related Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) is apparently common (Braithwaite and Clayton 1976). In contrast, in a 3-yr study of a colony of about 350 Black-crowned Night Heron pairs on Long Island, New York, no 1-yr-old breeders were observed (Allen and Mangels 1940)
Citation Information
Publication Year | 1982 |
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Title | Nesting by one-year-old black-crowned night herons on Hope Island, Rhode Island |
Authors | Thomas W. Custer, William E. Davis |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | The Auk |
Index ID | 5221795 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
USGS Organization | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center |