Order: Pelecaniformes

Family: Ardeidae

 

Size:  up to 40 - 45 cm in length

Weight: up to 230 g

 

Key Features: The Indian pond-heron is an elegant bird with white-grey plumage, a brown stripe on its back, and a yellow beak with a black tip. Fascinatingly, its legs change colour in the breeding season, turning from green to bright yellow during the months of March to September. Some individuals even have red legs; a feature which has been reported in about two percent of the population in southern and western India.

 

Voice:  usually silent but may give a harsh croak when flushed or near their nests.

 

Breeding: The breeding season is prior to the monsoons. They nest in small colonies, often with other wading birds, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. Most nests are built at a height of about 9 to 10 m in large leafy trees. The nest material is collected by the male while the female builds the nest. Three to five eggs are laid. The eggs hatch asynchronously, taking 18 to 24 days to hatch. Both parents feed the young. Fish are the main diet fed to young. Nest sites that are not disturbed may be reused year after year.

 

Diet:  includes small fish, frogs, crabs, other crustaceans, aquatic insects, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, and baby turtles, and it may also consume substantial amounts of plant matter. 

 

Habitat: This bird can be found in a wide variety of habitats including rivers, lakes, marshes, mangroves, streams and paddy fields. It is also found in highly urbanized and populated areas, for example Indian pond-heron nests have been found in towns and cities. It prefers to live in lowlands but may also be found at higher altitudes, such as in the Nilgiri Hills in southern India which lie 2,150 metres above sea level.

 

Habits: It is a stealthy hunter, stalking its prey by walking slowly toward it or by standing still, awaiting the chance to ambush, and it has also been recorded capturing its prey when in flight. The Indian pond-heron feeds during both the day and night, either alone or in small loose flocks.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (1992) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona

Kushlan, J.A. and Hancock, J.A. (2005) The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

Photo Courtesy

J.M.Garg, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons