Indian Pond Heron

A short and stocky bird commonly found across the Indian Subcontinent is a resident of wetlands.  It is about 30 -40 cms long and a thick yellowish beak and a brownish plumage, Indian Pond Herons mainly survive on fishes and amphibians.  During the mating season males grow a very distinct greyish white plumage.   These birds are normally found with other wading birds around ponds, rivers, canals and streams.  They have excellent camouflage which sometimes enables to approach them till a close range before it takes the flight.  Because of this, there are many myths around this bird that it is short sighted but actually extremely focused on its prey.

We were lucky to sight one Pond Heron at Indroda Nature park, Gandhinagar to be able to capture photographs and videos of it hunting fish in the waterlily pond and we are happy to share the same with you all.






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