night heron
noun
: any of various widely distributed nocturnal or crepuscular herons (especially genus Nycticorax)
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web These measures include surveillance of dense tree canopies, and when a cattle egret or night heron is seen, some loud noises. 
Brandi Addison, Dallas News, 22 Apr. 2021 Frogs trilled and bellowed and croaked, a night heron gave a coarse cough. Alexandra Fuller, Travel + Leisure, 21 Aug. 2020 Spotted salamanders breed here and night herons roost, alongside coots and grebes. Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 13 May 2020 Feathered friends: Over the years there has been Ahab the one-legged Heermann’s gull, Sylvester the night heron, Wee Willie the snowy egret, Nasty the blue heron, Big Ernie the giant egret and many others. Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 22 Dec. 2019 There was a paddling of ducks drifting about, a single cormorant, a great blue heron watching from a nearby eucalyptus tree, a snowy egret and a couple of juvenile night herons pocking around at the water’s edge. Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Oct. 2019 Sho-Fu-En is home to wildlife: hawks and night herons, rabbits and raccoons, geese, squirrels, a fox, turtles, toads and fish and dragonflies. Colleen Smith, The Denver Post, 29 June 2019 Dozens of other bird species call the park home year round, including night herons, great white egrets, kingfishers and the delta’s year-round resident flock of greater flamingos. Smithsonian, 15 June 2018 See More
Brandi Addison, Dallas News, 22 Apr. 2021 Frogs trilled and bellowed and croaked, a night heron gave a coarse cough. Alexandra Fuller, Travel + Leisure, 21 Aug. 2020 Spotted salamanders breed here and night herons roost, alongside coots and grebes. Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 13 May 2020 Feathered friends: Over the years there has been Ahab the one-legged Heermann’s gull, Sylvester the night heron, Wee Willie the snowy egret, Nasty the blue heron, Big Ernie the giant egret and many others. Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 22 Dec. 2019 There was a paddling of ducks drifting about, a single cormorant, a great blue heron watching from a nearby eucalyptus tree, a snowy egret and a couple of juvenile night herons pocking around at the water’s edge. Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Oct. 2019 Sho-Fu-En is home to wildlife: hawks and night herons, rabbits and raccoons, geese, squirrels, a fox, turtles, toads and fish and dragonflies. Colleen Smith, The Denver Post, 29 June 2019 Dozens of other bird species call the park home year round, including night herons, great white egrets, kingfishers and the delta’s year-round resident flock of greater flamingos. Smithsonian, 15 June 2018 See More Word History
First Known Use
1785, in the meaning defined above