BIRDS OF BANDHAVGARH

HERONS & EGRETS

POND HERON

CATTLE EGRET

Bubulcus ibis

GREAT WHITE EGRET

Ardea alba

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 42-45 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 51-56 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: g

SPECIES INFORMATION:

Eggs:
Incubation: days
Fledging: days
Length: 101 cm
Wingspan: cm
Weight: 950g

DESCRIPTION

The pond heron is an egret like marsh bird found throughout the Indian subcontinent. It stands hunched up at the remote corner of a water body watching and waiting patiently for the fish to come within reach before it picks on it in a flash. This habit has lead to an expression ‘saintly heron’ or as ‘saintly as a heron’ that facetiously suggests the visual similarity between a saint in meditation and the heron which stands at the water edge pretending to be absorbed in holy meditation, while all the while it is intending to pounce on its prey.

The pond heron when at rest is all brown, which is supplemented with maroon hair like plums on the back and long white crest during the breeding season. When it springs into flight the shimmering white wings, tail and rump flash into prominence. The bird also makes a harsh croaking sound when it plunges into flight but there is a lot more to its vocabulary than this; it has a variety of low conversational notes and peculiar mumbling sounds that a nesting pair utters.

DESCRIPTION

The easiest way to separate Cattle Egrets from Little Egrets is by their short, yellow rather than long, black bills, but Cattle Egrets are also smaller and squatter in shape with shorter, thicker necks and less elegant heads - indeed in shape they are more like Squacco Herons. Their plumage is more or less completely white for most of the year except in spring when they have orangey feathers on the crown, breast, and mantle, giving them their alternative name of Buff-backed Heron.

Even when these orange patches are at their most vivid, the bird still looks mostly white, unlike Squacco Herons which at rest look mostly orange or brown and in flight always show these colours across the whole of the mantle, creating an obvious ‘saddle’ effect never seen in Cattle Egrets. There are others in this family with all-white plumages and yellow bills but Great White Egrets and Western Reef Herons are both much bigger, with long, skinny, heron-like necks.

DESCRIPTION

The Great Egret is a large bird with all white plumage. It is only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Herons. Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet. It also has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes and spoonbills, which extend their necks.

The Great Egret is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Diet

Pond herons feed on insects, fish, and amphibians.

DIET

Cattle egrets are opportunistic feeders and typically forage in flocks often associated with grazing animals and pick off parasites on the large herbivores and waiting for insects and other prey items that are flushed out. They feed mostly on relatively large insects, especially grasshoppers, crickets, flies, and moths as well as spiders, frogs, crayfish, earthworms, snakes, and rarely also fish, bird eggs, and even nestling birds.

DIET

The Great Egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, spearing fish, frogs or insects with its long, sharp bill. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim. It is a conspicuous species, usually easily seen.

HABITAT

You are likely to find it wading along the shallows and the marsh for food wherever there is water. It can be found at a river, pond, roadside ditch, and the seacoast in mangrove swamps, tidal mudflats or in the paddy fields form where it has acquired its second name – paddy bird.

HABITAT

Cattle egrets are common around marshes, farms, highway edges, pastures, ploughed fields, and other altered habitats. They are strongly migratory and juveniles may disperse thousands of miles in random directions.

HABITAT

The Great Egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with cold winters. It breeds in colonies in trees close to large lakes with reed beds or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest.

WHERE TO LOOK

This is a very common bird throughout the park. Look down to the banks at shallow waters of waterholes and streams.

WHERE TO LOOK

This is a common bird to see in Bandhavgarh. Look for it in the waterholes of Chakradhara and Rajbehra meadows and the Sukhi Daiti waterhole.

WHERE TO LOOK

This is an uncommon bird to see in Bandhavgarh. Look for it in the waterholes near Charger Point and the Gohri Gate.