Friday, June 5, 2020

Bird Watching - Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron



Black-crowned Night-Herons are small herons with rather squat, thick proportions. They have thick necks, large, flat heads, and heavy, pointed bills. The legs are short and, in flight, barely reach the end of the tail. The wings are broad and rounded.

Local Names : Waak, Kwaak (Hindi)
                     Vakka (Tamil)
                     Toppi Kokku (Malayalam)



Adults are light-gray birds with a neatly defined black back and black crown. Immatures are brown with large white spots on the wings and blurry streaks on the underparts. Adults have all-black bills; immatures have yellow-and-black bills. The sexes are similar in appearance although the males are slightly larger. Black-crowned night herons do not fit the typical body form of the heron family.


The breeding habitat is fresh and salt-water wetlands throughout much of the world. These birds stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey, mainly at night or early morning. They primarily eat small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, small mammals, and small birds. 


Nest is the usual twig structure of egrets, built in colonies in canopy of large leafy trees or screwpine brakes, near or removed from water. Eggs- 4 or 5 pale sea-green. Both sex share all domestic duties

References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia
allaboutbirds.org

Pictures:
Crocodile park, Chennai

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