I would like to share two new species that i have just photographed today just a stone throw away from my office, the Little Herons. My office is located on the bank of the Gombak River flowing through the downtown Kuala Lumpur. I have noticed that the river still holds some wildlife eventhough the quality of water is deteriorating due to pollution and garbage thrown by the city folks. The river still has plenty of fish mostly Tilapias and catfish, and have muddy riverbanks and tall grass which resemble some wetland that is the right habitat for these species.
I have been walking along this riverbank every Friday for almost two years and have been observing the wildlife there for quite sometime. Other than birds there are monitor lizards too hunting for fish in this river, some as big as a small crocodile! I just never got to get myself to bring my camera along as the time available during lunch to take photos is quite short. But today i forced myself to bring along the camera and was rewarded with some shots as shown below.
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| Little Heron - Butorides striatus |
Actually, Herons, Bitterns and Egrets come from the same family Ardeidae which has 64 species under it. This family refers to long-legged and long neck freshwater and coastal birds. Some people mistakenly called Herons as Bitterns and vice versa because of their similar shapes eventhough the color differences are quite pronounced. Egrets are a lot easier to differentiate because of their white color. The unique feature of Heron is their necks which are retracted (as can be seen in these photos) when they fly unlike Storks or Cranes. Their main diet is fish, shrimps, small crabs,reptiles and insects in shallow waters. They make nests in the trees and reed beds close to water bodies - wetlands, lakes, rivers, ponds etc.
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