Nyctanassa is a genus of night heron

Night heron

The night herons are medium-sized herons in the genera Nycticorax, Nyctanassa and Gorsachius. The genus name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the...

s from the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, especially (but not exclusively) warmer coastal regions. They were formerly included in the genus Nycticorax

Nycticorax

Nycticorax is a genus of night herons. The name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the Black-crowned Night Heron.These are medium-sized herons which...

, but today all major authorities recognize them as different.

The name comes from Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 words for "night" and "lady" or "queen", referring to the Yellow-crowned Night Heron's nocturnal activity and its beauty.

Species

• Bermuda Night Heron
  Bermuda Night Heron
  The Bermuda Night Heron is an extinct heron species from Bermuda. It is sometimes assigned to the genus Nycticorax. It was first described in 2006 by Storrs L. Olson and David B. Wingate from subfossil material found in the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in caves and ponds of Bermuda...
  
  , Nyctanassa carcinocatactes (extinct)
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
  Yellow-crowned Night Heron
  The Yellow-crowned Night Heron , also called the American Night Heron or squawk, is a fairly small heron, similar in appearance to the Black-crowned Night Heron...
  
  , Nyctanassa violacea