Pond herons (''Ardeola'') are
herons, typically long with an wingspan. Most breed in the tropical
Old World, but the
migratory squacco heron
The squacco heron (''Ardeola ralloides'') is a small heron, long, of which the body is , with wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Europe and the Greater Middle East.
Behaviour
The squacco heron is a migrant, wintering ...
occurs in southern Europe and the Middle East and winters in Africa. The
scientific name comes from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''ardeola'', a small heron (''ardea'').
These pond herons are stocky species with a short neck, short thick bill, typically buff or brownish back, and coloured or streaked fore neck and breast. In summer, adults may have long neck
feathers. ''Ardeola'' herons are transformed in flight, looking very white due to the brilliant white wings.
Their breeding
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
is marshy wetlands. They nest in small colonies, often with other wading birds, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. Two to five
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
s are laid.
These herons feed on insects,
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
and amphibians. They are often found on small ponds giving rise to the English name shared by most of the species.
Species
References
Herons
{{Pelecaniformes-stub