For this week’s World Wildlife Wednesday we have a bird that can be found almost everywhere in the world (though it’s neither partial to the cold nor to Australasia), and my images go some way to showing that.

My first photo of the Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) was taken at the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) not far from Siem Reap in Cambodia. Like so many species of wildlife in poverty-stricken Cambodia, this heron is considered by many locals to be a food item, and hunting has dramatically reduced its numbers. The ACCB operates a captive breeding programme that aims to rebuild the local population.

My second set of photos was taken in Chicago and shows immature night herons roosting in the trees in Lincoln Park, just north of the city centre. Due mainly to habitat loss, these herons are endangered in Illinois, so the Chicago Parks, Lincoln Park Zoo and Department of Natural Resources are working together to encourage and support the 400-odd birds that breed in Lincoln Park each year.

The location of my third photo is the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park in Malaysia. According to the Malaysian Birds website, the Black-crowned night heron is faring rather better in Malaysia, where the bird is widespread and the populations in local heronries frequently number in the hundreds.