Snow heron
| Snow heron | ||||||||||||
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The snow heron in the Olango archipelago |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Egretta eulophotes | ||||||||||||
| ( Swinhoe , 1860) |
The snow heron ( Egretta eulophotes ), also known as the Chinese little egret , is a rare medium-sized heron from Southeast Asia. Sometimes this name is also used for the European heron ( Egretta thula ). But it is more common for the Chinese little egret.
description
This 68 cm bird has snow-white plumage with several long white hood feathers . During the mating season, elongated white decorative feathers form on the chest and back. The feathers on the neck are short and scruffy. The skin of the face is bluish. The beak is yellow. The legs are black and the feet are greenish yellow.
Behavior and occurrence
The snow heron breeds on offshore islands off Russia , China , North Korea and South Korea . It used to be found in Hong Kong and Taiwan . It is a migratory bird that spends the winter months in Southeast Asia. The main wintering areas are the regions around the islands of Cebu , Bohol and Samar in the Philippines and in the Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Selangor in Borneo .
In contrast to the silver heron or the little egret , the snow heron lives in the Wadden Sea. It feeds on crabs, lugworms and small fish. The mating and breeding season is from late April to early June. Up to three cobalt blue eggs are laid in a dry grass nest on the ground. The breeding season lasts 30 to 40 days. The young birds are then looked after by their parents for 40 days until they fled.
Danger
At the beginning of the 20th century, this species was hunted mercilessly for its pretty ornamental feathers, so that there were only about 500 specimens left in the 1960s. Today the population is around 3400 birds, which in Korea are particularly endangered by the pollution of the Han River . Furthermore, the species is very sensitive to disturbances during the breeding season. It so happened that the birds in Shin-Do, South Korea, left their breeding grounds during the 1990s due to disturbance from photographers. In Liaoning , China, they are endangered by hunters and egg collectors.
literature
- James A. Kushlan & James A. Hancock: Herons . Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-854981-4
Web links
- Markus Kappeler - Chinese Little Egret
- Egretta eulophotes in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.