Bacchus Heron
| Bacchus Heron | ||||||||||||
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Bacchus heron in magnificent plumage |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ardeola bacchus | ||||||||||||
| ( Bonaparte , 1855) |
The Bacchus heron ( Ardeola bacchus ) is a bird art from the family of herons .
features
The Bacchus heron is a squat heron about 50 cm long. Its plumage is usually of an inconspicuous brownish color. During the mating season, however, he wears a splendid dress with a red-brown head and neck, a slate-gray back and a white underside.
Occurrence
Its distribution area includes southern and eastern Asia from Assam to China . But it also breeds in Southeast Asia as far as Borneo and occasionally even ventures into Japan and the Mediterranean region on its forays . Its habitat includes extensive swamps , as well as lakes, coastal waters and even rice fields.
behavior
He hunts small fish , frogs , crustaceans and insects in the riverside areas and wet meadows. It has also been observed that he often lives together with water buffalo in order to hunt small animals or their parasites that are scared off by them. Bacchus herons breed in small colonies, often with other species of heron. Their nest is made of twigs and reeds. The female lays three to five light green eggs, which are incubated by both parent birds for about three weeks.
literature
- Jiří Felix (eds.), Květoslav Hísek: Asian fauna in color. Translated from the Czech by Ingeborg Šestáková. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1991.
- Hermann Heinzel u. a .: Parey's bird book. All birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Berlin 1992.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Ardeola bacchus in the Internet Bird Collection
- Ardeola bacchus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed November 14, 2011th