Striated Heron — David Taylor - Master Jeweller

There are two morphs in Australia, the grey and rufous and quite a few sub species.. In the area around Cairns where I live the macrorhyncha subspecies of the grey morph is found and shown on this page.

With the grey morph the underparts are dark grey-brown and the upper parts paler to buff . Immature birds have grey and white striped underparts and white spotted wings.

Both sexes look similar with a stocky body and hunched posture.

The bird has a large bill and head with yellow eyes and a grey bill.

The head has a black cap and crest.

The foreneck has white marks down the centre. Legs are short and dull yellow colour. When breeding the face and legs are flushed orange-red.

They are usually found alone crouching and stalking prey in the shallows around mangroves, estuaries and intertidal flats.

Feeding is usually around low tide using the heavy sharp bill to jab prey. It hunts with the bill parallel to the ground.

On the menu are mudskippers, fish, crabs, crustaceans, molluscs and insects.

They are more common in the north of Australia along the coast and are sedentary. Breeding is between February and March laying 3-4 eggs in a stick platform nest of mangrove branches.