Zoos as Night Heron Habitats

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Zoos as Night Heron Habitats
Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

Zoos can be great places to see birds, and not just in an aviary — next time you visit, keep an eye out for wild birds that choose to live in this urban green space.

One frequent visitor at many zoos is the Black-crowned Night Heron. At the St. Louis Zoo, there’s often one hanging around the outdoor penguin exhibit, hoping to steal a stray fish from the penguins’ food.

         [Black-crowned Night Heron colony calls]

Elsewhere, night herons are after more than a quick meal. Since the late 1800s, a large rookery of Black-crowned Night Herons has nested at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo hosts hundreds of night herons. And at the Detroit Zoo, several dozen pairs take up their summer residence in trees near the crocodile exhibit.

         [Black-crowned Night-Heron calls]

The night herons love nesting near bodies of water where they can catch fish, frogs, and other prey. So a zoo that has a pond or two nearby turns out to be a perfect spot for a night heron rookery.

Wildlife-friendly landscaping can create opportunities for species that struggle to find habitat elsewhere. For Black-crowned Night Herons, a city zoo can be home sweet home.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Black-crowned Night Heron colony calls ML 250778381 recorded by Mark R Johnson and Black-crowned Night Heron adult and juveniles ML164488391 recorded by Paul Marvin. 
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2026 BirdNote July 2026         
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# BCNH-02-2022-07-28     BCNH-02

References: 
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/black-crowned-night-heron 
https://www.macombdaily.com/2012/07/02/night-herons-choose-detroit-zoo-for-nesting/ 
https://featheredfocus.com/2019/07/02/black-crowned-night-heron/ 
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130513/lincoln-park/rare-black-crowned-night-herons-thrive-at-zoo----as-visitors/