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- Ardeola speciosa
Identification
45 cm.
- Pale golden-yellow head, crest and neck
- Two long buff-white crest plumes
- Elongated slate-black back feathers, extending to tail tip
- Cinnamon to rufous lower neck and breast plumes, extending to upper belly
- White underparts tinged orange
- White wings
- Yellow bill with dusky maxilla, bright yellow with black tip and blue base in breeding season
- Green-yellow lores
- Yellow eyes, orange in breeding season
- Pale yellow legs, pinkish red in breedingseason
Sexes similar.
Non-breeding very similar to Chinese Pond Heron and Indian Pond Heron. May show less dusky on primary tips than Chinese Pond Heron.
Similar species
Chinese Pond Heron shows a darker head and upper breast and has rufous crest plumes in breeding plumage. Indian Pond Heron has a less strong blackish tone on back.
Distribution
South-east Thailand, southern Cambodia, southern Vietnam southern Borneo, Sumatra, and Java
Taxonomy
Habitat
Usually freshwater, prefers paddyfields, flooded grasslands, lakesides and riverbanks, sometimes also mangroves and reefs.
Behaviour
Diet includes insects, fish and crabs
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
