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| Purple Heron | ||||||||||||||
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| Ardea purpurea Linnaeus, 1766 |
The Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, common throughout southern Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa.
This species breeds in colonies in reed beds or trees close to large lakes or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest.
It feeds in shallow water, spearing fish, frogs or insects with its long, sharp bill. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim. It tends to keep within reedbeds more than the Grey Heron, and is often inconspicuous, despite its size
The Purple Heron is a large bird, standing 80cm tall, and it has a 120cm wingspan. It is somewhat smaller than Grey Heron, from which it can be distinguishes by its darker reddish-brown plumage, and, in adults, darker grey aback. It has a narrower yellow bill, which is brighter in breeding adults.
It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitternBitterns Least Bittern : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Ciconiiformes †: Ardeidae Genera Ixobrychus ''Botaurus † see also: Heron The bitterns are members of the heron family Ardeidae. The wading birds in this group which are named as bitternss, and distinguishes them from storkMycteria ''Anastomus ''Ciconia ''Ephippiorhynchus ''Jabiru ''Leptoptilos The storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long stout bills. They occur in most of the warmer regions of the world. They tend to live in drier habitats than thes, craneCranes Sarus Crane : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Gruiformes Gruidae Genera Grus Anthropoides Balearica Bugeranus Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes and family Gruidae . Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated hers and spoonbillSpoonbills Roseate Spoonbill : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Ciconiiformes : Threskiornithidae Plateinae Genera and Platalea P. leucorodia P. minor P. alba P. regia P. flavipes Ajaia A. ajaja Spoonbills are a group of large long-legged wading birds in thes, which extend their necks. The long neck of Purple Heron looks particularly snakelike, with more of an S-shape in flight.
The call is a loud croaking "krek ".