Madagascar Heron
| Madagascar Heron | ||||||||||||
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Madagascar Heron ( Ardea humbloti ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ardea humbloti | ||||||||||||
| Milne-Edwards & Grandidier , 1885 |
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The Madagascar Heron ( Ardea humbloti ) is a bird art from the family of herons , who earlier seemed to quite Madagascar. The species is now restricted to a few areas in western Madagascar. The population of this heron species is given as endangered (= highly endangered).
features
The Madagascar heron is quite a stately wader and reaches a length of about 90 cm. Its plumage is predominantly slate gray. The very large beak is light yellow and turns dark yellow to orange during the breeding season.
Occurrence and habitat
It only breeds in Madagascar and there mainly in the north and west of the island and on the banks of Lac Alaotra . It is also occasionally seen in the Comoros , Mayotte and the Aldabra Atoll. Its habitat are the local wetlands and mangroves .
The heron can be observed either individually or in small groups. Occasionally it is socialized with gray herons , whose nests it occasionally uses during the breeding season. It is basically a resident bird, but occasionally undertakes further migrations to find suitable habitat.
Way of life
Madagascar herons are mainly found in non-polluted waters. Their main food is fish with a body length of ten to twenty centimeters. But they also eat crabs, crayfish and prawns.
The Madagascar heron breeds in trees individually or in small colonies and is occasionally associated with other heron species.
Danger
The species is endangered in its population , the population is estimated at only 1,000 to 3,000 animals. The reason for this lies on the one hand in the hunting by the locals and on the other hand in the destruction of its habitat through deforestation and drainage. The development of the coastal regions for tourism has also contributed to a decline of this type.
The Madagascar heron is also found in protected areas such as the Ankarafantsika Strict Reserve, the Ankarana Special Reserve and the Baly Bay National Park. However, more than 50 percent of the populations live outside such protected areas. Madagascar has also ratified the Ramsar Convention , which has been in force in this country since 1999. Madagascar has thus committed itself to increasing and expanding the protection of wetlands.
Dedication names
It bears its scientific name in honor of Léon Humblot , who was governor of the Comoros from 1884 to 1897. Even after he finished his office, he remained the largest landowner on the island, who worked his plantations with slave labor. He also seems to have been an amateur naturalist, as he is probably attributed to the Angraecum Leonies orchid species .
literature
- James A. Kushlan & James A. Hancock: Herons. Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-854981-4 .
- Martin Walters: The signals of birds - What birds reveal about the environment . Haupt, Bern 2011, ISBN 978-3-258-07682-9 .
Web links
- Ardea humbloti in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed October 16, 2016th
- Danish site about Ardea humbloti
Single receipts
- ↑ a b c d Ardea humbloti in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed October 16, 2016th
- ↑ Martin Walters: The signals of the birds - What birds reveal about the environment . Haupt, Bern 2011, ISBN 978-3-258-07682-9 . , P. 129
- ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins: Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds . Christopher Helm, London 2003, ISBN 0-7136-6647-1 , pp. 205 .