The black-crowned night heron is a compact, stocky heron that is a rare visitor to Britain and breeds colonially in Mediterranean and central European wetlands, where disturbance and habitat loss threaten its welfare.
Night heron welfare at breeding colonies is sensitive to human disturbance that can cause chick loss through trampling, falling, and temperature stress when adults are flushed from nests. Pollution of the shallow wetland margins in which they forage at night reduces prey availability. Illegal shooting affects populations on migration through southern Europe. The difficulty of monitoring nocturnal activity makes welfare assessment challenging.