Indian Pond Heron

Ardeola grayii

Family: Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns · Status: Rare migrant · Size: 45 cm · Conservation: Least Concern

Range

Resident across the Persian Gulf and Indian subcontinent to the Maldives, wintering south to the Thai-Malay Peninsula.

Identification

Breeding adult has brownish-buff head, neck and breast with head-plumes, whitish throat, and dark brownish-maroon mantle and scapulars. Indistinguishable from Chinese and Javan Pond Heron in non-breeding and juvenile plumage, in which all three species have the head and neck streaked buff and dark brown with greyish-brown mantle and scapulars.

Habitat

Freshwater wetlands such as streams, marshes, ponds and open fields.

Behaviour

Forages chiefly during the morning and the later part of the afternoon, standing or walking slowly in shallow water; diet includes fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects.