White-faced Heron

Last edits...

Photo- 4. 29.06.2014

References- 29.06.2014

The White-Faced Heron is mostly light blue-gray in colour, with a characteristics white face. In flight, the dark flight feathers of the wing contrast with the paler grey plumage, making this bird easily identifiable when viewed from below. It has a long, slim neck and a pointed grey-black bill. The legs are long and dull yellow in colour. Sexes are similar. 

When breeding, the birds have long feathers on the head, neck and back. 

The White-faced Herons are similar in appearance to the non-breeding adults, but are duller, with little or no white on the face. They often have a reddish colour on the underparts.

White- face Herons are commonly seen herons in Australia. They are found throughout the mainland and Tasmania, and most coastal islands. They also occur in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The birds can be found anywhere where there is a water, from tidal mudflats and coastal reefs to miost grasslands and gardens.

White-Faced Heron  feeds on a wide variety of pray, including fish, insects and amphibians. Food is obtained in a variety of ways, such as walking and disturbing prey, searching among damp crevices or simply standing in the water and watching for movement.

White-Faced Herons may breed outside the breeding season in response to rainfall. Both sexes share the building of the nest, incubation of the eggs and care of the young. The nest is an untidy structure of sticks, placed in a tree. Normally only one brood of young is raised in a year.   

      

Photo-

Jozef Skubin.  1,2 Herdsmann Lake, 3 Swan River, 4 Cannington river

References-

Field guide to the birds of  Australia

Reader's Digest complete birds of Australia 

The waterbirds of Australia