LITTLE BITTERN
:
Ixobrychus minutus RM Village hen: In flight white
shoulder patch contrasting with black wings diognastic
of male. Female chestnut brown. Marshes with dense
reed-beds. Pakistan, N. India, Nepal and east of
Assam. Kashmir up to 1800m. Maharashtra .
Local Name: Goi (Kashmiri).
Size: Indian Pond Heron
Field characters : Identified in flight by the whitish
shoulder patch contrasting with the black wings. Male
black above with grey to whitish patch on closed wing,
masking black flight feathers at rest. Sides of head
and neck grayish pink. Below white to buff, with ochre
on upper breast and blakish maroon lower breast. In
females the black is replaced by chestnut brown;
shoulder patch, chestnut brown.
Distribution :
Resident in North and East India. Also Pakistan (sind),
Nepal , and North Bangladesh .
Habits: Usually
single. Crepuscular and addicted to reed beds. Freezes
when startled, becoming invisible among the reeds.
Call: A frog like wuk.
Food : Fish ,moluscs , etc.
Nesting : season—May to July.
Nest—a pad of rushes in a dence reed bed.
Eggs—4 to 6or7, white with often a bluish tinge.
Both sexes share domestic duties.
MALAYAN
NIGHT HERON
:
Gorsachius melanophus
RM Village hen+: 51
cm. Ashy black crown and crest. Back chestnut-cinnamon
bared with black. Marshes and streams in tropical
evergreen forest. Subcontinent. Sri Lanka, Nicobar Is.
Local Names: Raj bog-
Assames; Thavittu kokku-Malayalam.
Size : Indian Pond Heron+.
Field Characters: Crown and nuchal crest ashy black.
Back chestnut-cinnamon closely barred with black.
Primaries and secondaries with white tips. Tail black.
Underparts largely white, streaked, blotched or spotted
with black. Rufous on lower breast and abdomen.
Distribution Resident in the heavy rainfall areas of the
western Ghats Eastern India . N. Bangladesh . Winters
in Sri Lanka. Race minor in Nicobar Islands.
Habits:A large
nocturnal, shy inhabitant of steams and marshes in thick
forest.
Call: Usually silent
; incubating birds hiss and croak.
Food : fish, frogs,
etc.
Nesting : season—May
to June in eastern India; May to August in SW India.
Nest—an untidy
platform of sticks lined with reeds on trees overhanging
streams.
Eggs—3to5bluish
white. Breeding details. Unknown.
CHESTNUT
BITTERN :
Ixobrychus cinnamoneus
RM Village hen : 38cm.
Chestnut cinnamon above . Chin and throat whitish with a
dark median stripe down foreneck . Reed-beds, flooded
paddyfields, etc. Rarely coastal backwaters.
Subcontinent, Andamans, Nicobars, Sri Lanka Maldives.
Local Names: Lal bagla-Hindi;
Khyri bak or lal bak –Bengal; Metti kokka- Sinhala;
kuruttu kokku-Tamil; Sandhya kokku- Malayalam.
Size: Indian pond heron:
Field Characters: An unmistakable cousine of the Indian
pond heron. Upperparts chestnut cinnamon; chin and
throat whitish with a dark median stripe down foreneck.
Upper breast chestnut and black ; rest of underparts
pale chestnut. Female duller with brown streaked rufous-buff
underparts. Solitary, in and about reedy marshes, etc.
Distribution : The greater part of the Indian Union;
Bangladesh Pakistan Sri Lanka; Myanmar. Resident and
locally migratory. Habits: Very similar to those of
the Little green heron. When surprised on its nest or
concerned , it assumes the characterstic attitude of its
tribe, aptly termed the ‘On Guard’. The neck is
stretched perpendicularly, bill pointing skyward, while
the bird ‘freezes’ becoming astonishingly obliterated
amongst its reddy environment. Nesting : season: July
to September. Nest—a small twig platform among reeds in
a swamp, or in bushes at the edge of a monsoon-filled
pond. Eggs—4 or 5, white.
YELLOW BITTERN :
Ixobrychus sinesis RM Village hen-+: 38cm. Yellowish
fawn body contrasting with black wings in flight
diagnostic. Reed-beds, standing paddy, swamps etc,
Subcontinent, Andamans, Nicobars, Sri Lanka.
Local Names: Jun Bagla-
Hindi; Kat bak- Bengali; Manal narai- Tamil; Manjakokku-
Malayalam.
Size: Indian Pond heron:
Field Characters: Yellowish fawn body contrasting with
black wings in flight, distinctive. General color
yellow, brown rufous and chestnut. Distribution:
Resident throughout India. Habits : Affects reed beds,
Inland swamos, coastal mangroves, estuaries, etc.
Largely crepuscular but active during the day in cloudy
overcast weather.When startled , freezes in typical
bittern posture merging in to the reed background.
Food: Fish Frogs and mollusks. Nesting :
season---June to September. Nest – a pad of reed flags
on reeds or shrubbery near a pond. Eggs—4 to, 6, blue
or greenish blue. Both sexes share parental duties.
BLACK BITTERN :
Dupetor flavicollis
RM Village hen :- 58cm. Black and
rufous with a conspicuous buff and white cheek patch and
ochre yellow bands on sides of neck. Reddy marshes.
Subcontinent up to 1200m and Sri Lanka. Maldives
(winter). Absent in Andaman and Nicobar Is.
Local Names: Kala Bagla-Hindi;
Kalo Bak- Bengali; Ay jan-Assamese; karuppu narai-Tamil
;Karutha Kokku- Malayalam.
Size Indian pond Heron:
Field characters: Largely black and rufous with a
conspicuous buff and white cheek patch and a bright
ochre-yellow band on either side of neck. Female
brownish rather than slate .
Distribution: Resident
thinly and patchily distributed throughout the better
watered parts of the subcontinent; Nepal Sri Lanka local
migrant. An individual bearing a Malayan ring was picked
up dead in Manipur
Habits: Solitary largely crepuscular
, and nocturnal. Affects reedy inland swamps and
overgrown seepage nullas in jungles.
Call: Produces a booming
call in the breeding season. Freezes when
Startled. Food: Fish ,
frogs, insects, etc.
Nesting :season—June to
September.
Nest—a pad of twig or weeds
in reeds in swamps, cane brakes, bamboo clumps.
Eggs—4, blue or green ringed
white . Both sexes share parental duties.
GREAT BITTERN
:
Botaurus stellaris M-village hen+: 71cm. Tawny buff,
barred or mottled with black. Swampy reed-beds.
Subcontinent, Sri Lanka.
Local Name : BaZ (Hindi).
Size : Indian Pond Heron:
Field Characters: Tawny buff, barred or mottled with
blackish. Bill short, stout and pointed. Stance
hunchbacked as in the Indian Pond Heron.
Distribution:
Winter visitor to North and NE. India; Pakistan,
Bangladesh. Straggler to the south up to Sri Lanka.
Habits : Occurs in dense reed beds and other marshland
vegetation in inland jheels and swamps. Solitary,
crepuscular, freezes when alarmed.
Food: Fish, frogs,
etc. Nesting: Breeds in the temperate Palaearactic
from Great Britain to Japan. Booming call heard
during breeding season. Possibly breeds in
Kashmir.
Nest – similar to other
bitterns’.
Eggs—4 to 6, light olive
brown.
