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Wednesday 26 August 2015

26-8-2015 VILLALONGA RESERVOIR, VALENCIA - SQUACCO HERON (Ardeola ralloides)



The Squacco Heron is a bird in the wetlands of Europe and Asia. It migrates thousands of miles to Africa during winter. 

During the breeding season, it transforms, with delicate feather plumes sprouting from the back of its head and its beak turning a fiery red.

It preys on fish, frogs, or insects and captures them with a quick jab of its beak. 


The Squacco heron, scientific name Ardeola ralloides is a small heron, 44–47 cm (17–19 in) long, of which the body is 20–23 cm (7.9–9.1 in), with 80–92 cm (31–36 in) wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Europe and the Greater Middle East.

The squacco Heron is an opportunistic heron tailored to benefiting from changeable hydrologic circumstances by feeding, nesting, and shifting in keeping with wet-dry cycles.

It is likely one of the more generalists of all of the herons. It is a solitary species, however one that may additionally feed or nest in unfastened aggregations and even massive flocks when the state of affairs permits. It is especially sedentary, however regionally nomadic in keeping with circumstances.


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