HERONS, EGRETS AND BITTERNS Their biology and conservation in Australia

HERONS EGRETS AND BITTERNS Their biology and conservation in Australia Neil McKilligan © Neil McKilligan 2005 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry McKilligan, Neil, 1940- . Herons, egrets and bitterns. Bibliography. ISBN 0 643 09133 5 (paperback). ISBN 0 643 09209 9 (netLibrary eBook). 1. Ardeidae – Australia. 2. Herons – Australia. 3. Egrets – Australia. 4. Bitterns – Australia. I. CSIRO Publishing. II. Title. 598.34 Available from CSIRO PUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: Local call: Fax: Email: Web site: +61 3 9662 7666 1300 788 000 (Australia only) +61 3 9662 7555 publishing.sales@csiro.au www.publish.csiro.au Front cover Intermediate Egret, photo by Neil McKilligan Back cover Striated Heron, photo by John Moverly Set in Sabon 10.5/14pt Cover and text design by James Kelly Typeset by Paul Dickenson Printed in Australia by Ligare Contents Preface and acknowledgements v Introduction vii 1 Herons of the world 1 2 What makes herons different? 7 3 The importance of herons 17 4 Distribution, movements and longevity 23 5 Feeding and food 33 6 Breeding 43 7 Population numbers and conservation 65 Colour plates 79–86 8 Species resident in Australia 87 Cattle Egret 88 White-necked Heron 94 Great-billed Heron 96 Great Egret 98 Pied Heron 100 Intermediate Egret 102 White-faced Heron 104 Little Egret 106 Eastern Reef Egret 108 Striated Heron 110 Nankeen Night Heron 112 Little Bittern 115 Black Bittern 117 Australasian Bittern 119 9 Occasional visitors 121 Black-crowned Night Heron 121 Malayan Night Heron 122 Yellow Bittern 123 Cinnamon Bittern 123 Schrenk’s Bittern 124 Grey Heron 125 References 127 Index 132 To my family ... - tailieumienphi.vn