Grey Heron
Grey herons are tall, with long legs, grey, black and white feathering.
long S-shaped neck, narrow head and pointed dagger bill. legs are brown.
Adult has white crown, black eyebrows, and black shoulder patch. Like
other herons and egrets, flies with neck pulled in to form a bulge.
Local Names :
Nari, Anjan, Sain (Hindi)
Narai, Sambal narai (Tamil)
Charamunti (Malayalam)
They can stand with their neck stretched out, looking for food, or
hunched down with their neck bent over their chest.
Generally quite common and conspicuous in wetland habitats from marshes
and tidal flats to small ponds, ditches, and wet fields; nests
colonially in tall trees. Mainly seen as singles or in small groups,
standing quietly in or at the edge of water, less often hunting in
fields. Grey herons can be seen at any time of year. our grey
herons do not migrate.
The Grey heron feeds mostly on fish, but depending on the season and
what is available, it also may eat amphibians, crustaceans, aquatic
invertebrates, mollusks, snakes, small birds. After harvesting, grey
herons can sometimes be seen in fields, looking for rodents.
The birds breed colonially in spring in "heronries", usually building
their nests high in trees. A clutch of usually three to five
bluish-green eggs is laid. Both birds incubate the eggs for around 25
days, and then both feed the chicks, which fledge when 7-8 weeks
old.
References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia
Pictures:
Pallikaranai Wetlands ( January 2020)
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Pallikaranai wetland is situated adjacent to the Bay of Bengal in the city of Chennai. The Pallikaranai marshland is a freshwater marsh and one of the last remaining natural wetlands of South India. The marsh contains several rare or endangered and threatened species and acts as a forage and breeding ground for thousands of migratory birds from various places within and outside the country.
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