They have a black crown and back, gray wings and white underparts. Night herons like to nest low, often on the ground. They have three to six young. As their name suggests, the black-crowned night herons are out at night, when they do most of their feeding. They are about 33 inches tall and are black, with webbed feet and a red-orange chin pouch.
Cormorants nest in tree tops.
They have three to five young per nest. The cormorant colony at Lake Renwick was the first in northeastern Illinois. Cormorants dive under the water to catch fish. You may see them in the tree tops, wings spread, drying their feathers. They are 20 inches tall, and are white, with stubby yellowish bills.