This stunningly beautiful bird is the Rufescent Tiger-Heron. Since we've entered the dry season some of the surrounding fields have become more accessible again. Yesterday I was going down a path made by a digger and suddenly this big bird flew off. Luckily I brought my camera and was able to photograph it but unfortunately the pictures are not that great.
The Rufescent Tiger-Heron is another bird to put on my life list. It's a medium sized heron that mostly live solitary. When I was trying to track it to take more photographs another one flew off. In this case it was an adult, the one in the first picture is a juvenile.
The Rufescent Tiger-Heron is considered uncommon to rare throughout most of its range. But since its range is huge (most of South America), the reservation status is 'least concern' although their numbers have not been quantified.
It's a shame that the juveniles loose their beautiful feather patterns on their backs. It takes up to 5 years to acquire their adult plumage. The breast feathers of the young are white as can be seen in the next picture.
The Rufescent Tiger-Heron can be found in lowlands close to water where it hunts for fish, aquatic insects, crabs etc.
I couldn't find much information about their breeding habits but in Suriname they were observed breeding from April to June and in August and September.
Here we see how different the adult plumage is compared to the young. It was a real surprise to find these beautiful birds.
Thanks for visiting my blog and happy birding.
