Indian Pond Herons
By Charlie • December 18, 2008 • 2 commentsWhen I was at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary in southern India a few weeks ago one of the species of waterbird I couldn’t have missed if I’d tried was the Indian Pond Heron Ardeola grayii. Known colloquially as the “Paddybird” this rather familiar and lovely little heron is found in almost any ‘wet’ habitat from small shaded ponds to the edges of large lakes to the open rice-fields that are so characteristic of rural India. Though not as bold as Cattle Egrets they are fairly approachable, and I’ve seen villagers working the paddies with a couple of Pond Herons in attendance - presumably waiting for eg a frog to be flushed - on many occasions.
Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, nr Chennai, southern India. Dec 2008
On the ground, when they’re stalking prey, Indian Pond Herons (like their counterparts the western Squacco Heron A. ralloides and the eastern Chinese Pond Heron A. bacchus) are well-camouflaged and easily over-looked - but they’re completely transformed when they take to the air on broad and predominantly white wings. (In fact the change is so drastic that I well remember the first time I went to India many years ago being very confused by the small white herons flying around which I simply couldn’t find on the ground - until I watched one land and realised what was going on.)
Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, nr Chennai, southern India. Dec 2008
Madras, southern India. Jan 2008
Lalbagh Botanic Gardens, Bangalore, southern-central India. Nov 2007
Breeding-plumaged adult, Kolkata, north-eastern India. Sept 2005
Non-adult, Kolkata, north-eastern India. Sept 2005
The birds in these photos are from several different parts of India and were taken mainly between Nov and Dec: most of them are in non-breeding plumage (or are immatures which look essentially similar). Only the second to last photo - captioned ‘Breeding-plumaged adult, Kolkata, north-eastern India. Sept 2005′ - is of a breeding adult. It struck me when I was at Vedanthangal that whilst most waterbirds were breeding, the pond herons weren’t and I put a question into the Oriental Birding Yahoo group asking at what time of year Indian Pond Herons do breed. It appears that the breeding plumage is held from May/June till about late October, and none of the correspondents recalled seeing a breeding-plumaged bird outside of that period (thanks to Ramit Singal, Samarpam Tracy, Nick Moran, Dirk Van Gansberghe). Additionally V Santharam - who birds Chennai - informed me that Indian Pond Herons are in fact winter visitors to the area, and that in twenty years he’s never seen either pond herons or Cattle Egrets breeding at Vedanthangal or anywhere else in the Chennai region. Interesting stuff. My thanks go to all the birders who took the time to respond.
All photos copyright Charlie Moores 2008
Very beautiful birds. Nice set of photos. I am from Chennai and I visited Vedanthagal Bird Sanctuary in the month of November 2008. I was able to get quite close to them. I am new to birding and I did not know that Pond Herons do not breed in Chennai. I have always been trying to spot their nests. :))) Thanks for the information.
Hi,
I saw Indian Pond Herons in breeding plumage on March 18, 2007, at Karikili Sanctuary and Crocodile Park, Chennai. I just went through my photos again recently, i.e., today and realised that I have photos of these birds in breeding plumage. :))) Do check out my blog. I have just now posted them. :)))