Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Black-crowned Night-heron FAMILY - Ardeidae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli REFERENCES - 1 and 2 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Resident, species present all year. 21 Winter visitor - migrant. 21 Resident, species present all year. 3 Apparently secure in Belize 22 Uncommon: occur at low density in proper habitat. 22 Of concern: cayes and coastal zone 19 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 17 District Reference Belize 4 Corozal 6 Orange Walk 7 Toledo 9 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Shipstern Nature Reserve 6 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 9 Gallon Jug Sighting Wet season 15 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting Dry season 12 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting Wet season 11 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary 10 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) Sighting Permanent 5 Northern Lagoon/Southern Lagoon (Prop Dry season 13 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 12 Private land, see comments Sighting Wet season 7 Private land, see comments Dry season 13 Private land, see comments Dry season 14 Private land, see comments 9 Government land 8 Cayes, other; see comments 19 Monkey River Special Development Area Sighting August 16 Hydrologic Association Reference Mussel Creek 5 Elevation Reference 1-200 m 18 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 12 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 7 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 15 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 13 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 14 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 9 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 18 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 4 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 12 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 10' to 88 30' 13 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 12 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 8 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 6 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 16 16 00' to 16 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 9 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 7 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Subtropical moist 18 Subtropical moist 15 General Distribution Comments 21* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Uncommon southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Common mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. Uncommon cayes inc. Ambergris. 19* Bird Caye Northern Lagoon 15* leader with tour group, seen last week of Nov. 14* Big Falls Rice Farm 13* Big Falls Rice Farm 12* Big Falls; oil terminal outside Belize City 9* Toledo Settlement, 4 mi. W of Punta Gorda 8* Belize City 7* Gold Button Ranch; observed nesting 3* Permanent resident, common northern hardwood forests, coastal savannas, mangroves and beaches along the coast of the mainland, and cayes inc. Ambergris Cay; uncommon southern hardwood forests. "rare in summer." References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements. 3 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 4 Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 5 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1987. Conservation of a Critical Marsh and Lowland habitat, Mussel Creek drainage system, Belize, C.A. Report to NYZS/Wildlife Conservation Society. 6 Meerman, J. 1993. Checklist of the Birds of the Shipstern Nature Reserve, Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2(10). pp. 71-81. 7 Platt, S. 1993. Wildlife Survey of Gold Button Ranch, Belize. Unpublished report. 8 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 9 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 10 Wood, D. S., R. C. Leberman. 1987. Results of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Expeditions to Belize. III. Distributional Notes on the Birds of Belize. Annals Carnegie Museum. 56(6):137-160. 11 Forsythe, D. 1994. Unpublished Belize Trip list June 18-21. 12 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 13 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 14 Jenkins, P. G. 1982. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society Belize Expedition, 1981. 80.pp Unpublished report. 15 Pierson, J. 1994. Pers. comm. in letter. 16 Meerman, J.C. ed. 1995. Monkey River Special Development Area Stann Creek District, Belize. Belize Tropical Forest Studies Publication #5. Appendix: Bird List. Unpublished Technical report for B.E.S.T. 17 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List of Migratory Birds. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794. (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711). 18 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995. Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996. 19 McRae, E., 1994. The Birds of Belize's Coastal Zone: Species, Distribution, Current Status, Threats to Their Well-being, and Potential Measures to Reduce Their impact. Unpublished report. 20 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize, Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern. Report to Programme for Belize/TNC Wings of America Program. 21 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98