Appearance:

Small, stocky, white heron with short bill and neck. Heavy jowl. Plumage all white, except in breeding birds which show varying amount of buff on back, crown and chest. Bill usually yellow, but turns orange-red in breeding birds, and is dark in immatures. Legs pale greyish green, but darker in young birds. May be confused with both Little Egret and Squacco Heron in flight. Differs from Little Egret in leg color and shorter, thicker neck and bill. Told from Squacco Heron by unstreaked body/head, and smaller bill. Generally leaves a less elegant impression than other small herons.

Sound:

Usually silent away from breeding ground. In the colonies a chorus of various coarse sounds can be heard. Most distinct is a disyllabic "rick-rack". Other sounds includes short, guttural utterings, or drawn, harsh shrieks.

Contact calls:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Like a pale, giant Tawny Owl. Yellow bill, long, evenly barred, tail. Eyes dark. Facial disks pale, unmarked and almost fused, lacking the dividing wedge of Tawny Owl. In flight, note lack of pale base of primaries and much slower wing-beats than Tawny. Mild facial expression, but very aggressive at breeding ground.

Sound:

Song: 6 -10 evenly spaced "ho"'s, starting silently and gradually rising in volume and pitch. Also an accented "ho-ho, ho-ho-it, ho-ho", three middle notes ascending and the two notes before and after descending. A variety of barking social sounds.

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC