STRIATED HERON Butorides striata
Like a little hunchback, the Striated Heron waits patiently for his prey with his head lowered and neck loaded like a springing coil. An unsuspecting tadpole going about his daily business passes a little too close to the heron´s feet and WHAM, a movement so rapid that your brain barely registers that it has happened at all, and the tadpole is wriggling desperately in the heron´s bill-tip. With a quick gulp the tadpole´s time on our planet is over, and the heron has resumed his hunting posture, waiting for his next victim.
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FIGURE 1 - (FPAVE160PH) Adult ventral, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Hemme Batjes November 2005).
FIGURE 2 - (FPAVE161PH) Adult lateral, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Alberto Esquivel December 2007).
FIGURE 3 - (FPAVE162PH) Adult ventral, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Rob Clay October 2009).
FIGURE 4 - (FPAVE163PH) Same individual in defensive posture (Rob Clay October 2009).
FIGURE 5 - (FPAVE164PH) Juvenile, location unknown (Karina Diarte photography).
FIGURE 6 - (FPAVE165PH) Juvenile, Bahía Negra, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Teatske Nieuborg 2007).
FIGURE 7 - (FPAVE166PH) Juvenile in flight, Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Teatske Nieuborg 2007).
FIGURE 8 - (FPAVE167PH) Nest with two chicks, location unknown (Arne Lesterhuis undated).
VIDEO - (FPAVE421VI) Adult, Aguadulce, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Paul Smith November 2010).
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Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Hemme Batjes, Rob Clay, Teatske Nieuborg, Karina Diarte Alberto Esquivel and Arne Lesterhuis and are used with permission.