(Picture : an immature Black crowned Night Heron)
Located at Bolghatty Island, Ernakulam
Its local names are
Waak,Kwaak, Tar bagla, Kokrai (Hindi)
Bor (Kashmiri)
Bachka (Bengal)
Chongkhu (Manipur)
Raat baggal. Raat Kokku , Raj kok (Marathi)
Awaak , Waak (Gujrat)
Gadri (Sind)
Chinta wakha (Telgu)
Vakka (Tamil)
Toppi kokku ( Malayalam)
Re kana kokka (Sinhala)
It is nearly the size of a Indian Pond Heron and has the general effects of a stocky Indian pond heron with stouter bill.Its colour is ashy grey above with glistening black back and scapulars and white below.Crown and nape are black . The long occipital crest is black with some white plumes intermixed.
Young birds are streaked brown , rather like Indian pond heron.
Both sexes are alike . These are gregarious birds flying at dusk with loud raucous kwaark .
They are distributed throughout the Indian union , Bangladesh,Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Myanmar.They are resident and locally migratory.
Habits :
Largely crepuscular and nocturnal .Affects jheels and other inland waters as well as tidal creeks and mangrove swamps.Colonies spend the daytime resting in clump of leafy trees , often far from water , and fly out of their accustomed feeding grounds at dusk.They come out in ones and two's , uttering a distinctive kwaark from time to time.Their flight is like that of the Indian pond heron.It is distinguished with a steady flapping, with neck pulled in , and in silhouette resembles that of the flying fox and gull.The same communal roosts and nesting trees are occupied year after year.
Food:
Crabs, fish , frogs , aquatic insects etc. They usually procure the food actively rather than acquiring them in the 'wait and strike' manner of the herons.
Nesting :
Between April and September in North India
December to February in the south.
Nest is usually a twig structure typical of the egrets.Nests are built in colonies in canopy of large leafy trees or screwpine brakes , near or removed from water. Eggs are generally 4-5 , pale sea-green in colour .Both sexes share all domestic duties.
Young birds are streaked brown , rather like Indian pond heron.
Both sexes are alike . These are gregarious birds flying at dusk with loud raucous kwaark .
They are distributed throughout the Indian union , Bangladesh,Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Myanmar.They are resident and locally migratory.
Habits :
Largely crepuscular and nocturnal .Affects jheels and other inland waters as well as tidal creeks and mangrove swamps.Colonies spend the daytime resting in clump of leafy trees , often far from water , and fly out of their accustomed feeding grounds at dusk.They come out in ones and two's , uttering a distinctive kwaark from time to time.Their flight is like that of the Indian pond heron.It is distinguished with a steady flapping, with neck pulled in , and in silhouette resembles that of the flying fox and gull.The same communal roosts and nesting trees are occupied year after year.
Food:
Crabs, fish , frogs , aquatic insects etc. They usually procure the food actively rather than acquiring them in the 'wait and strike' manner of the herons.
Nesting :
Between April and September in North India
December to February in the south.
Nest is usually a twig structure typical of the egrets.Nests are built in colonies in canopy of large leafy trees or screwpine brakes , near or removed from water. Eggs are generally 4-5 , pale sea-green in colour .Both sexes share all domestic duties.
