White-faced Heron
Egretta novaehollandiae· 鹭科(8 photos)
White-faced Heron
66-70 cm; span c. 1.06 m. Familiar small, pale grey heron with white face and yellow legs. Immature: paler grey; only throat white. Flight stately, sometimes with neck briefly extended: note two-tone contrast of pale grey body and darker flight feathers. Singles to autumn companies: wades in shallow water, on roadsides, farm dams, etc. Perches on fence posts, trees, telephone poles, house roofs.
- Other name
- 'Blue Crane' (erroneous).
- Similar Species
- White-necked Heron; Eastern Reef Egret (dark morph).
- Voice
- gobbling, gravelly croaking.
- Habitat
- shallow wetlands: fresh, brackish or salt; farm dams, pastures, grasslands, crops, shores, saltmarsh, tidal mudflats, boat-harbours, beaches, golf courses, orchards, garden fishponds.
- Breeding
- Sept.-Nov. in se. and sw. Aust.
- Nest
- untidy, shallow; of sticks in leafy branch 5-12 m high; sometimes far from water.
- Eggs
- 3-5; pale blue.
- Range & Status
- Aust. and Tas.: mostly winter visitor to Top End (NT), C. York Pen.-Torres Strait. Dispersive or part-migratory. Also Indonesia, PNG, Pacific, sub-Antarctic islands. Vagrant Macquarie I. Also NZ.
