Order: Pelecaniformes

Family: Ardeidae

 

Key Features: Adults have a blue-grey back and wings, white underparts, a black cap, a dark line extends from the bill to under the eye and short yellow legs. Juveniles are browner above and streaked below.

 

Voice:  not a very vocal bird, but may give a ‘keeuuk’ call in flight or when alarmed. Displaying males may also use a ‘skow’ call, to which the female may respond with a gentle ‘coo’.

 

Breeding:  Does not appear to have a specific breeding season, nesting year-round in some areas, although often with a peak during the rains. The species may breed up to three times a year, constructing a nest in shrubs, bushes or trees, overhanging the water. 

 

Diet:  consists mainly of fish, but it is an opportunistic feeder and will also take insects, worms, crustaceans, frogs, reptiles and even other birds.

 

Habitat: usually near water, including mangrove-lined shores and estuaries, river edges, swamps, forested streams, lakes, salt flats, woods, rice fields and canals. It has been recorded from sea level up to elevations of about 4,000 metres in the Andes.

 

Habits: These birds stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey, but are easier to see than many small heron species. They mainly eat small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. They sometimes use bait, dropping a feather or leaf carefully on the water surface and picking fish that come to investigate.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Butorides striata. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on July 02, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striated_heron

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

 

Fjeldsa, J. and Krabbe, N. (1990) Birds of the High Andes. Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

 

Sazima, I. (2007) Frustrated fisher: geese and tilapias spoil bait-fishing by the green heron (Butorides striata) in an urban park in Southeastern Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, 15(4): 611-614.

 

Photo Courtesy

JJ Harrison, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Little Heron (Butorides striata)