Art by Barry Kent MacKay

Art by Barry Kent MacKay

(Artwork - 029) The Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

This bird has a huge range, being found in much of the world. Here in North America it is widely distributed in temperate and subtropical habitat. Where I live, in Ontario, we are at the northern edge of its range, at least on this part of the continent, although it breeds quite a bit further north along the St Lawrence River Valley, up to the North Shore of Quebec, and the beautiful Gaspé Peninsula. It is quite common in my region, in the lower Great Lakes of southern Ontario, where it nests in colonies, which vary a lot in size from year to year, and come and go without apparent reason. Also, it is migratory in regions with cold winters (although last winter southern Ontario was not very cold).
 
It sometimes nests in close proximity to Double-crested Cormorants, which is why I did this little gouache-mixed-media vignette. It is another illustration for a book being written about the cormorants. This small painting is done primarily with gouache (opaque) watercolours and felt pen on watercolour paper, with a bit of colour pencil added, and shows a mature adult in full breeding plumage.

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Copyright © Barry Kent MacKay
Barry describes himself as a Canadian artist/writer/naturalist.
See his website: http://barrykentmackay.ca/