The squacco heron (''Ardeola ralloides'') is a small

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

, long, of which the body is , with wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Greater Middle East The Greater Middle East is a geopolitical term introduced in March 2004 in a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as part of the United States' preparatory work for the Group of Eight summit of June 2004. The pap ...

Behaviour

The squacco heron is a migrant, wintering in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It is rare north of its breeding range. The species has been recorded in

Fernando de Noronha Fernando de Noronha (), officially the State District of Fernando de Noronha () and formerly known as the Federal Territory of Fernando de Noronha () until 1988, is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, and ...

islands, and more rarely in mainland

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

. This is a stocky species with a short neck, short thick bill and buff-brown back. In summer, adults have long neck

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

s. Its appearance is transformed in flight, when it looks very white due to the colour of the wings. The squacco heron's breeding

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is marshy wetlands in warm countries. The birds nest in small colonies, often with other wading birds, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. Three to four

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s are laid. They feed on fish,

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s and insects. The squacco heron is a host of the

Acanthocephala Acanthocephala ( Greek , ' 'thorn' + , ' 'head') is a group of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses t ...

n intestinal parasite ''

Ardeirhynchus spiralis ''Ardeirhynchus'' is a monotypic genus of parasitic worms belonging to the family Polymorphidae. Its sole described species is '' Ardeirhynchus spiralis'' , which is found in Northern America. Taxonomy The genus was described by Dimitrova & Georg ...

''.Dimitrova, Z. M., & Georgiev, B. B. (1994). Ardeirhynchus ng (Palaeacanthocephala: Polymorphida: Polymorphidae), with a redescription of A. spiralis (Rudolphi, 1809) n. comb. Systematic Parasitology, 29(2), 149-158. Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) in flight.jpg, Flying in Cyprus Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) breeding colour composite.jpg, Composite showing changes during breeding

Etymology

The English

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

''squacco'' comes via

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithology, ornithologist, ichthyology, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics an ...

(c. 1672) quoting a local Italian name ''sguacco''. The current spelling comes from John Hill in 1752. The

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

comes from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''ardeola'', a small heron (''ardea''), and ''ralloides'',

''rallus'', a

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''-oides'', "resembling".

Breeding

The Squacco Heron uses freshwater localities throughout Europe and the Middle East as breeding grounds to later migrate south to the Sub-Saharan African region. Non-breeding Squacco Herons share similar traits with other heron species like the

Indian Pond Heron The Indian pond heron or paddybird (''Ardeola grayii'') is a small heron. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Iran and east to the Indian subcontinent, Burma, and Sri Lanka. They are widespread and common but can be easily missed whe ...

and

Malagasy Pond Heron The Malagasy pond heron (''Ardeola idae''), also known as the Madagascar pond heron or Madagascar squacco heron, is a species of heron of the family Ardeidae. They breed in Madagascar, Réunion and the Seychelles, and spend the non-breeding seas ...

which show tawny color plumage, lighter streaking, smaller bill, and narrower wing tips. Heron crabier MHNT

References

External links

*
Squacco Heron
- '' The Atlas of Southern African Birds'' * *
Squacco Heron
a
oiseaux.net
* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q191394

squacco heron The squacco heron (''Ardeola ralloides'') is a small heron, long, of which the body is , with wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Europe and the Greater Middle East. Behaviour The squacco heron is a migrant, wintering ...

Birds of Africa Birds of Europe Birds of West Asia