---
title: "Kapreiger"
description: "Pilherodius pileatus — Vogels. The capped heron (Pilherodius pileatus) is a water bird endemic to the neotropics, inhabiting rainforest from the center of Panama to the south of Brazil."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/capped-heron
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Kapreiger

> Pilherodius pileatus — Vogels. The capped heron (Pilherodius pileatus) is a water bird endemic to the neotropics, inhabiting rainforest from the center of Panama to the south of Brazil.

- Scientific name: *Pilherodius pileatus*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `forest` (Bos), `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 2389
- Wikidata: [Q217951](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q217951)
- iNaturalist taxon: [5058](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/5058)

## Names

- en: Capped Heron
- de: Kappenreiher
- es: Garza real
- fr: Héron coiffé
- nl: Kapreiger
- pt: Garça-real
- pl: Czapla modrolica

## Countries with the most observations

BR (949), PE (444), CO (439), EC (187), BO (89), PA (65), VE (29), GY (25), SR (23), GF (16), PY (7)

## Summary

The capped heron (Pilherodius pileatus) is a water bird endemic to the neotropics, inhabiting rainforest from the center of Panama to the south of Brazil. It is the only species of the genus Pilherodius, and one of the least known of the heron family, Ardeidae. It is superficially similar to the group of the night herons, but is active during daytime or at twilight.

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

## Photo

![Kapreiger](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/capped-heron/medium.jpg)

Photo: Zoltán Stekkelpak · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/259693920

## Machine access

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