Africa Wild Bird Book

[Dewi]

078. Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus (Woudapie)
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae

Little Bittern.jpg (59.14 KiB) Viewed 895 times

Description
27-36 cm in length, 40-58 cm wingspan and 60-150 g weight. A small, buff coloured heron with white streaking on the underparts and black back and crown, wings are black with a large white patch on each wing. Legs are greenish yellow. Its beak is yellowish. In flight, it reveales pale upperwing coverts. It is easily identified by its pale, buffy forewings which contrast with the black flight feathers.
The male’s head and back are black with green highlights
The female has a browner back. Brown stripes on the upper body and tawny stripes on its lower body; a buff-brown wing patch, but less evident.
Juveniles are more heavily streaked than the adults and have a duller beak and legs.
Similar species: It differs from smaller Dwarf Bittern in having conspicuous pale buff wing panels and less striping on the throat and breast. Females and juveniles resemble the juvenile Green-backed Heron, but have green (not yellow) legs and toes and pale forewings.

Taxonomy
There are three subspecies:
Ixobrychus minutus minutus. Europe, Asia, northern Africa; winters in sub-saharan Africa and southern Asia.
Ixobrychus minutus payesii . Sub-saharan Africa, resident.
Ixobrychus minutus podiceps. Madagascar, resident.
Adult males of the two subspecies are separable in the field, but only if good views are obtained; payesii has a russet neck while that of minutus is buff.

Distribution
It has two subspecies: one resident in Africa and the other breeding from Europe to China and the Mediterranean, heading south in the non-breeding season to India and sub-Saharan Africa. Here it is generally uncommon in Namibia, northern and south-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, central and southern Mozambique and isolated patches of South Africa. Resident birds are augumented in summer by paler faced race: minutus which do not breed in the region.
The nominate race breeds in the Palearctic and is present mainly in the eastern half of Africa during the austral summer; the subspecies I. m. payesii breeds through most of sub-Saharan Africa but is rare in the southern part of the range, with an estimated 100 pairs in South Africa.



Habitat
It generally prefers Bulrushes (Typha capensis) and reeds (Phragmites) in water, such as in vleis or along the edge of wooded watercourses or sewage ponds.

Movements and migrations
Movement patterns vary greatly between the two different subspecies: L. m. payesii is largely resident while L. m. minutus is a palearctic breeding migrant, present in southern Africa in the period from December-April.

Diet
Fish, amphibians, molluscs & small reptiles.

Breeding
Monogamous, solitary or semi-colonial nester, as nests may spaced close together in prime habitat. The first male to establish a territory seems to overt dominance over other pairs in the area, preventing other females from nesting until his female has finished her clutch. The nest is built solely by the male, who also selects the site, consisting of a platform of reed stems lined with green grass or other fine plant material. It is typically placed in Bulrushes (Typha capensis) or dense reeds (Phragmites), usually at the edge of a clearing or adjacent to an open channel of water. Egg-laying season is from September-June. It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 18-20 days. The chicks are brooded for the first 8-10 days of their lives, at which point they start to clamber around in the reedbed near the nest, leaving completely at about 14-16 days old, and flying strongly at 27 days old. They are fed by both sexes by regurgitation, on a diet of mainly small fish and frogs.

Call
It gives a short rrah when flushed. The breeding male gives low barks. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Resident birds are uncommon but non-breeding summer visitors are locally common. The Little Bittern is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.

[Dewi]

078. Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus (Woudapie)

© Duke
Male and female. Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Gauteng

© Michele Nel
Female

© Sharifa

© leachy
Kruger National Park, Makhadzi stream at Engelhard

© BluTuna
President Ridge Bird Sanctuary, Johannesburg

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/078.pdf
Sabap2
Ryan, P. 2013. Tool time: bait fishing by a Little Bittern. African Birdlife 1(3):47.
http://www.heronconservation.org/styled-5/styled-35/
ARKive
Christopher M. Perrins, Norman Arlott. New generation guide to the birds of Britain and Europe

[Toko]

079. Dwarf Bittern Ixobrychus sturmii (Dwergrietreier)
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae

Description
The Dwarf Bittern is the smallest heron in the region, dark heron with dark and buff stripped throat and under sides; black line down centre of foreneck. Length: 27-30 cm. Weight: 142 g.
The adult male is blackish above, it has a dark slate grey head and neck, with elongated head and neck feathers. The back, upper wings and other upper parts are dark slate grey. Its throat and upper breast are pale buff, darkening to tawny on the abdomen, heavily streaked black. Underwing slaty black with narrow buff leading edge. Legs and feet are green yellow in front and yellow in back. In courtship legs and feet turn bright orange. Bill is dark. The upper bill is black to dark green. The lower bill is yellow. Lores and orbital skin are blue to yellow green. Irises are red brown to dark red. Feet often hang down in flight.
The female is paler, with a more rufous tinge on its belly and yellow irises.
The juvenile is more buff and pale than adult. The buff tips to the wing covert feathers. Its under parts are more russet. Its fore neck has narrower streaking. Bill is dull yellow grey. Irises are orange red and the legs and feet are yellow.
Chick: The down of the chick is ginger brown, slightly longer on the crown creating a crest. The iris is dark brown. The skin, bill, legs and feet are pink.
Similar species: It is distinguished from the Green-backed Heron by its smaller size and slow flight, its pale and heavily streaked underparts, and its uniform (not barred) upper parts. Distinguished from Little Bittern by lack of pale area on wing and by heavy dark streaks on underparts. Distinguished from immature Little Bittern by generally darker and by being more heaviliy streakes below.

Distribution
This species occurs across sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa, it is generally uncommon in northern Namibia, northern and south-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, central and southern Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa.



Habitat
It generally prefers seasonally flooded plains with scattered trees and bushes, reedbeds on rivers, streams and ponds, marshes, temporary pans, flooded grassland and occasionally mangroves.

Movements and migrations
Intra-African breeding migrant, arriving in southern Africa in the period from October to December to breed. It usually stays until March or April, at which point it heads north to its non-breeding grounds in equatorial Africa.

Diet
Its diet consists predominantly of grasshoppers and frogs, but it will also take water beetles, small fish, crabs, spiders and snails. It forages at dusk and at night, wading through shallow water in search of small animals. It also perches on a tuft of grass, stabbing prey that passes by.

Breeding
Monogamous and usually a solitary nester, although nests may be closed closely spaced in prime habitat. The nest is built opportunistically by both sexes in 1-2 days, consisting of a flimsy platform of twigs and coarse grass stems, typically placed in a thorny bush or tree flooded by water. Egg-laying season is from November to April, peaking from January to February. The eggs are white or pale bluish or greenish white, fading to white, smooth-shelled. The female lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 18-26 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, first exploring the area around the nest after a week, leaving the nest permanently at about 12-13 days old.

Call
A loud croak is uttered when disturbed; deep hoot-hoot-hoot.

Status
Uncommon summer resident and visitor.

[Toko]

079. Dwarf Bittern Ixobrychus sturmii

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park, close to Orpen Dam

© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park, close to Orpen Dam


Kruger National Park, Pafuri © leachy


Kruger National Park, Crocodile Bridge area © Pumbaa


Kruger National Park, Crocodile Bridge area © RogerFraser

Links:
Species Text Sabap2
Sabap2
Heron Conservation
Sasol

[Toko]

077. White-backed Night-Heron Gorsachius leuconotus (Witrugnagreier)
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae

White-backed Night-Heron Gorsachius leuconotus.jpg (35.96 KiB) Viewed 879 times

Description
The White-backed Night-Heron has a height of 55 cm and weighs around 440 g. It is strictly nocturnal and occasionally crepuscular. It roosts in tall trees or among the vegetation along streams during the day, hidden in the thick foliage and remaining motionless. Dark hood, white facial markings, yellow legs plus rufous body diagnostic.
The adult has dark brown tinged indigo wings and back. Upperparts grey in male, dark-brown in female and immature. The flight feathers are dark slate-grey. It has a white triangular patch on the back, often concealed when the wings are closed, but conspicuous in flight. The tail is blackish-brown. Breast and upper belly are dull pinkish-brown. Lower belly and undertail-coverts are whitish with weak pinkish-brown spots. The neck is mostly cinnamon-brown. Forehead, crown, nape, cheeks and ear-coverts are indigo-black. There is a short crest on the nape. Chin and throat are white. The most peculiar feature is the large eye surrounded by pale bare skin, from white to pale yellowish or greenish. The iris is chestnut in breeding season, and mostly yellow outside this period. The bill is black with yellow base on lower mandible. Legs and feet colour varies seasonally from greenish-yellow to grey-green.
In breeding season, plumage, bill and legs are brighter.
The female is similar but she has paler lower belly and undertail-coverts.
The juvenile is browner, heavily mottled and streaked, whereas forehead and crown are uniformly dark. The immature retains this plumage for a few weeks. It is less spotted than immature Black-crowned Night-Heron and the extensive dark cap is also distinctive. Told from European Bittern by the lack of moustachial stripes and much smaller size.

Distribution
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa it is generally rare in northern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), Zimbabwe, western Mozambique and north-eastern and southern South Africa.




Habitat
It generally prefers clear and slow-moving watercourses with overhanging vegetation, especially in woodland and forest but also in more open country. It occasionally moves to lakes, dams, marshes, mangrove swamps and occasionally reedbeds.

Diet
Its diet is thought to mainly consist of fish, amphibians, molluscs, crustaceans and insects, doing most of its foraging along the shallow margins of water bodies. It hunts by either standing still and catching anything that comes close, or by wading through the water and pursuing prey.

Breeding
Monogamous solitary nester, building a stick platform lined with grass, reed stems and leaves. It is typically concealed in a shrub or tree over or near water, such as Sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus), Powder-puff tree (Barringtonia racemosa), river-bean (Sesbania), willows (Salix) or Cherry-pie (Lantana camara). It may be placed in reeds or rock piles far from water, especially on islands. Egg-laying season is year-round, peaking from March-May in northern Botswana and from August-November elsewhere. The female lays 2-4 pale greenish-white eggs. The incubation lasts 23-26 days, shared by both adults. At hatching, the chicks are covered with cream-coloured down first, and then replaced by brown-grey feathers until they fledge, 6-8 weeks later. They are fed by both parents with small prey items regurgitated into the mouth. They leave the nest before they can fly, and reach the upper branches or the foliage in the close vicinity of the nest. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest for surrounding branches at about 20-21 days old. They leave completely at about 42-56 days old, although they remain dependent on their parents for a long time after fledging.
A second clutch may be produced sometimes.

Call
The White-backed Night-Heron utters sharp, toad-like kaaark if disturbed, and other grating noises, croaks and growls. During the breeding season, the most frequent call is a soft, throaty purring ow. But usually, this species is silent.

Status
Uncommon resident. In South Africa, this species is evaluated as Vulnerable, due to cutting down of trees along rivers and streams, which destroys its habitat. However, this species is not currently globally threatened.

[Toko]

077. White-backed Night-Heron Gorsachius leuconotus







Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/076.pdf
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
BirdInfo
Heron Conservation
Oiseaux net

[Toko]

076. Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax (Gewone Nagreier)
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae

Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax.jpg (50.63 KiB) Viewed 876 times

Description
Adults are approximately 64 cm long and weigh 800 g. They have a black crown and back with the remainder of the body white or grey, red eyes, and short yellow legs. They have pale grey wings and white underparts. Two or three long white plumes, erected in greeting and courtship displays, extend from the back of the head. The sexes are similar but males are slightly larger. Black-crowned Night-Herons do not fit the typical body form of the heron family. They are relatively stocky with shorter bills, legs, and necks than their more familiar cousins, the egrets and "day" herons. Their resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting they extend their necks and look more like other wading birds.
Sexes alike. Immature birds have dull grey-brown plumage on their heads, wings, and backs, with numerous pale spots. Their underparts are paler and streaked with brown. They have orange eyes and duller yellowish-green legs.
The juvenile is larger than juvenile Green-backed Heron, it has a streaky plumage with white spotting on upperparts more prominent.

Distribution
Occurs from Japan and South-East Asia to Europe south to Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa, largely absent from the DRC and Angola. In southern Africa, it is common in central and southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, much of South Africa (excluding the arid Karoo and Kalahari), northern and eastern Botswana and patches of Namibia, including the Caprivi Strip.



Habitat
It generally prefers slow-moving water bodies with plenty of emergent vegetation, such as estuaries, swamps, marshes, lakes, mangroves, rivers, dams and sewage ponds.

Diet
It eats fish and a variety of other animals, foraging at dusk and night to prevent competition with other herons. It mainly hunts by either waiting on a perch or on the shoreline, catching anything that comes to close, or by wading through the water and stabbing prey.

Breeding
Monogamous colonial nester, breeding in groups of 10-1000 nests along with other water birds, with each male establishing a territory around a platform on which it displays to females. The nest is built by the female with material provided by the male, consisting of a platform of sticks and reeds, typically placed in a reedbed or more rarely a flooded bush or tree, or even on a cliff overhanging a river. Egg-laying season is year-round, mainly peaking during the rain season, such as December-January in Zimbabwe and September-October in the Western Cape. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 22-26 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, first leaving the nest for the surrounding vegetation after about 20-25 days. They only fledge when they are 40-50 days old.

Call
Harsh quack when flushed. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Fairly common resident. Nocturnal and nomadic in response to water levels. Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.

[Toko]

076. Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

© leachy
Kruger National Park

© ExFmem
Kruger National Park

© Dewi

© Michele Nel
Strandfontein, Cape Town

© Dewi
Juvenile

Juvenile © BluTuna

© Lisbeth
Juvenile

© Dewi
Moulting into adult plumage

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/076.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Heron Conservation, Animal Diversity Web
http://www.arkive.org/black-crowned-nig ... ycticorax/
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-black ... heron.html

[Sprocky]

074. Striated Heron (formerly: Green-backed Heron) Butorides striata
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae

Striated Heron.jpg (60.68 KiB) Viewed 842 times

Description
40 cm. A small, dark grey heron with a black crown, dark blue-green back and wings and paler grey underparts. It has short yellow-orange legs.
Sexes alike, female slightly smaller.
Juveniles are browner above and streaked below and have dull orange legs.
Similar species: The heavily streaked juveniles may readily be confused with the Dwarf Bittern (079.). The latter has more uniformly dark grey upperparts.

Distribution
It is found across southern Asia, the Americas, Australia and sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa, it is uncommon to locally abundant in patches of Namibia (especially the Caprivi Strip), northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, central and southern Mozambique, Swaziland and north-eastern South Africa. The race atricapillus, which occurs in southern Africa, is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa but avoids most of the dry areas.



Habitat
Favours vegetated fresh water margins. It generally prefers well-wooded shorelines of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, mangroves, estuaries and swamps, occasionally moving into more open areas such as mudflats, flooded grassland and the seashore.

Diet
Fish, frogs and a wide range of aquatic insects and animals. It does most of its foraging by lurking in a crouched posture at the water's edge, grabbing anything unfortunate enough to come within range. It may also use an insect, spider, piece of bread or paper as a bait.

Breeding
Monogamous and usually a solitary nester. The nest is a flimsy, saucer-shaped platform of sticks, twigs and reeds, typically concealed on a branch of a tree or bush near water. Egg-laying season is year-round, generally peaking after rains. It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 21-27 days. The chicks are fed by both parents. They are capable of flying strongly at 34-35 days old.

Call
Varied harsh kyah and similar notes. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Fairly common resident, mostly sedentary and solitary.

[Sprocky]

074. Striated Heron (formerly: Green-backed Heron) Butorides striata



© BluTuna

© Pumbaa

© Tina
Kruger National Park, Lake Panic

© Flutterby
Juvenile

© Amoli
Juvenile. Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Gauteng

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa
Juvenile, Kruger National Park

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/074.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Oiseaux net