Pied Heron
Pied Heron in Adelaide Zoo
The Pied Heron (Egretta picata ) is a common in the region indoaustralischen herons. It is a relatively small heron with a dark slate-gray body plumage, a dark top head and a slender white neck.
Features
The Pied Heron is a rather graceful herons and is 43 to 55 cm long. They weigh 240 grams on average. Its plumage is mostly slate gray. However, neck and chest are white. On his head he wears a slate-gray cap. Its beak is relatively long and yellow in color. Young birds have brown spots on the neck and have a white skull.
Adult herons magpies are confused in their area of distribution with any other species. Young birds can be confused with the young birds of the White -necked Heron. However, these have black legs, a gray to black bill and conspicuous black spots on front neck. Pied Heron can be observed individually, but occasionally form groups of several hundred birds. Along a river course has a distance of 15 kilometers but even between 20,000 and 30,000 individuals counted. They are frequently associated with other herons.
Dissemination
The habitat is mainly mangroves, besides also coastal rivers, lakes, swamps and rice fields. The Pied Heron nests along the northern coast of Australia and south of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Outside the breeding season it is found also in New Guinea and the Moluccas.
Behavior
Pied Heron feed mainly on aquatic insects. In addition, frogs and small fish play a role. You are looking only in very shallow water for food. When foraging, they walk slowly in typical fashion, heron and pause again.
They breed in large colonies and are often associated with other species of herons, ibises and cormorants. The colonies of the parent herons can be very large and regularly include between twenty and 1,200 nests. The nests are made of twigs and are built on tall trees. There the female lays two to four eggs which are incubated by both parents for about three weeks.