Saturday 15 August 2009

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

OTHER NAMES: Heron, Ern, Brancher
Latin Etymology: Ardea ("Heron") cinerea ("ash-grey")

  Adult Grey Heron (subspecies A. c. cinerea) at Camley Street Natural Park, London - September 2010

Featured Subspecies: Ardea cinerea cinerea
Weight: 1000-2100g  /  Length: 84-100cm  /  Wingspan: 155-195cm
UK GREEN LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Easily the most common of the herons, it can seemingly be found wherever there is sufficient amounts of water to feed it - I've seen them along most rivers I've been walked along for any distance and most lakes of notable size, and given that that they have visited my back garden for it's under 2m square pond before, they aren't overly fussy. Regent's park in undoubtedly one of the best places to see these birds close up however, they are semi-tame, having learnt to take things from visitors in the way mallards often do, meaning you can get within feet of these huge birds.

Related Species:
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Subspecies: A. c. cinerea, A. c. monicae, A. c. jouyi, A. c. firasa

- Sighting Locations -
UNITED KINGDOM - Common and widespread resident in low densities (13,000 nests) and Common Winter Visitor (63000 birds)
CAMBODIA - Khmerក្រសាប្រផេះ  ("Grey ?)
A common resident.
 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: Common at Prek Toal
JAPAN - Japanese - アオサギ / Ao-sagi ("Blue Heron")
Common resident.
 - KYOTO 2013 TRIP: Commonly seen on the Kamo River in Central Kyoto and at Arashiyama
MALAYSIA - Malay - Pucung Seriap ("Protrude Heron")
Resident
 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: A single bird seen from a car in Kuala Lumpur
SINGAPORE 
A fairly common resident
 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP:Several at Sungei Buloh
SPAIN - Spanish - Garza reál ("Royal Heron")
A common resident.
 - SEVILLE 2011 TRIP: Several around El Rocio
 - MADRID 2016 TRIP: Abundant around Laguna Navaseca and Arrocampo.

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