For people living inconcrete jungles and inside cramped homes, villages are welcome changes – the greenery, trees, chirping birds, cattle all offer great feast to eyes and heart !- this beautiful small bird was in the middle of lush green field and a googleimage search puts it to be ‘Javan Pond Heron’ !!
Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks.
The Javan pond heron (Ardeola speciosa) is a wading bird of the heron family, found in shallow fresh and salt-water wetlands in Southeast Asia. Its diet comprises insects, fish, and crabs. The Javan pond heron is typically 45 cm long with white wings, a yellow bill with a black tip, yellow eyes and legs. Its overall color is orange, slaty and white during mating season, and brown and flecked with white out of the mating season. It is migratory.
Interesting !
With regards – S Sampathkumar
8.7.2024