Places and times seen in Munakata city

It is a resident bird, all year round, you can see what you normally see on the waterside of the whole city, such as the river, its tributaries, reservoir ponds, farmlands and so on.

Characteristic

Length 93 cm. Same color of both sexes.
From the forehead to the parietal face and from the face the forehead is white, there is a black line orally from above the eyes, and the back head has long crown feathers. The top is gray and the back and the shoulder feather has grayish ornament feathers. The wind, the first row raincoat, a part of the small wing feathers are black, the others are gray. The underside of the body is white, the chest has black vertical spots and white decorative feathers. The beak and legs are yellowish brown, the eyes are yellow green and the glow is yellow.
In the marriage color, the base and legs of the beak turn red, and the toes become bluish purple in the near future.
There are no crown feathers on young birds, and the black belt on the eyes is also blurred.
It is the largest among the herons found in Japan, and there is little to make a mistake in seeing. For beginners, some people mistake the crane from its size.

Habit

You can see it on various types of waterside including rivers, ponds, tidal flats, farmlands. Colonize nests (colonize) with other husks. Currently in Munakata you can see small colonies in the forest on the right bank of the river near Yoshida. Acting day and night, I sometimes hear singing loudly as "Gore" while flying at night.

distribution

It is distributed in sub-central Eurasia and Africa. It is seen in Japan nationwide, but in northern Japan it is a summer bird.

Other

Because the body is big, it can be mistaken as a crane.
However, cranes are bigger than this species, and when flying they stretch their heads and fly.
In addition, herons will shrink the neck and fly. For reference, tokins such as Kurozura Hera and Hera els also extend the neck and fly.