Grey heron - Ardea cinerea

Common Name :	Grey heron.
Binomial Name :	Ardea cinerea
Family :	Ardeidae
Photo Taken :	Ireland

Grey heron is a large heron bird that occurs in many countries as it is native to Europe, Asia, and part of Africa. Binomial name of the bird is Ardea cinerea. It belongs to the bird family Ardeidae. I don't know any other name of the bird, but in Bangladesh this is known as Dhushor bok (ধূসর বক).

A Grey heron is seen with Little egret.

From the name it is very easy to guess that the predominant color of Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is grey (but near head and neck it is more white). Part of the wing and the head is colored with black. Front side of the throat and elongated neck is striated with black. An adult is having crest at head and elongated feathers at front and upper side. Similar to other hero or egret this bird has a powerful long beak (yellowish in color). This large bird can be 100 cm tall with a body weight up to 2 kilogram. The bird is slow in flight and during flight the neck is positioned as a shape of 'S'.

Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is mainly an aquatic bird which is often seen around the shallow wetlands, river bank, bay area, etc. They are very patient during hunting. They are often seen standing in one place for a long period of time waiting for a prey. They mostly feed on fishes, frogs, and other aquatic insects. They mainly prefer to hunt during dawn and dusk.

Grey heron can be a solitary bird or living in a colony. During the breeding season they prefer to make a flat nest on tree by collecting small sticks. A female lays 4-5 which both parents incubate and takes around 25 days to hatch. Being a large bird this bird doesn't have any predators. But the eggs and small babies are vulnerable when unattended by parent.

A Grey heron is seeking for food.

Elongated feathers of an adult Grey heron is seen.

Striated black at front side is visible.

This is how a Grey heron waits for a prey near water.

This is probably a juvenile Grey heron which lacks of black at head, wings and also missing elongated feathers.

Photos of Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) were taken from several locations of Ireland during different times.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icbird.blogspot.com/