Little Heron

The majority of this species is sedentary although northern breeding populations are migratory and populations in Africa may perform local movements relating to seasonal rainfall (del Hoyo et al. 1992). The timing of breeding varies geographically but often occurs during the rains in the tropics (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005). The species is highly territorial and often forages and nests singly (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005), occasionally also nesting in loosely spaced single-species groups of 5-15 pairs, or even in larger breeding aggregations of several hundred (300-500) (del Hoyo et al. 1992) pairs (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Habitat The species shows a preference for forested water margins (Hancock and Kushlan 1984, Kushlan and Hancock 2005) such as mangrove-lined shores and estuaries, or dense woody vegetation fringing ponds, rivers, lakes and streams (Hancock and Kushlan 1984, del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Other suitable habitats include river swamps, canals, artificial ponds, salt-flats (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), mudflats, tidal zones, exposed coral reefs (del Hoyo et al. 1992), reedbeds, grassy marshland, pastures, rice-fields and other flooded cultivation (del Hoyo et al. 1992). Diet Its diet varies considerably over its range (del Hoyo et al. 1992) but usually consists predominantly of fish (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005) as well as amphibians (del Hoyo et al. 1992) (e.g. frogs) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), insects (del Hoyo et al. 1992) (e.g. water beetles, grasshoppers and dragonflies) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), spiders, leeches, crustaceans (e.g. crabs and prawns), molluscs (del Hoyo et al. 1992), earthworms, polychaete worms, birds (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), small reptiles and mice (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

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