Itanagar : Researchers have recently discovered successful breeding of the critically endangered white-bellied heron in Arunachal Pradesh.
As per reports, a team from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & Environment (ATREE) discovered two nestlings of Ardea insignis at Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh.
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This probably marks the first successful recorded white-bellied breeding in India.
According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are only around 200 white-bellied herons globally.
The white-bellied heron, which is the second largest living species of heron, is identified altogether by a combination of large size, grey color with white under parts and, in flight, grey upper wing and grey under wing contrasting with white linings.
It is distinguished from the Grey Heron by its large size, especially the large bill, and also by the lack of dark “shoulder” patch.
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It can be easily differentiated also from the other great herons due to its grey neck and brownish back altogether.
Reports have said that white-bellied herons makes its habitat in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, northeast Bangladesh and also Bhutan.
The species is very rare and rarely reported, even historically.
This brownish grey heron species approximately 127 cms tall and characterised by a large bill measuring 15-18 cms in length.
The crown appears blackish and crest feathers are pale tipped with grey.
The massive bill appears blackish, with the lower part bill dull yellow-green at the tip, on the top edge and at the gape.
The irises are yellow, tending to ochre, while the loral and orbital skin is green yellow. The neck is mostly grey. The upper parts are slaty with a distinctly brown tinge with the upper wing appearing solid grey.
The chin and under parts are white. The under wing is grey, with contrasting white wing linings. The legs and feet are dull grey.
The white-bellied heron makes its habitat in large inland swamp forests and forested rivers and less frequently submontane grasslands.
It is a solitary species that is most often seen alone or in pairs, and rarely in parties of 4-5, which perhaps are family groups.
It feeds characteristically by Standing in fast flowing rivers and takes its food primarily at dusk, and also less frequently during the day hours.