---
title: "Kwak"
description: "Nycticorax nycticorax — Vogels. The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/black-crowned-night-heron
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Kwak

> Nycticorax nycticorax — Vogels. The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

- Scientific name: *Nycticorax nycticorax*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 183090
- Wikidata: [Q126216](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q126216)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4981](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4981)

## Names

- en: Black-crowned Night Heron
- de: Nachtreiher
- es: Garza Nocturna Corona Negra
- fr: Bihoreau gris
- nl: Kwak
- pt: Savacu
- pl: Ślepowron zwyczajny

## Countries with the most observations

US (93973), MX (12382), TW (9957), CA (7353), CN (5626), BR (5310), AR (3724), HK (3698), IN (2630), IT (2442), ES (2426), CL (2200)

## Summary

The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. In Australasia it is replaced by the closely related Nankeen night heron (N. caledonicus), with which it has hybridised in the area of contact.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-crowned_night_heron

## Photo

![Kwak](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-crowned-night-heron/medium.jpg)

Photo: Kyle Nessen · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4981

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-crowned-night-heron?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).