White-eared Night Heron

The white-eared night heron is a medium-sized forest heron about 54 cm long. Adult males are dark grey-brown to blackish above, with a black crown, chestnut sides to the neck, conspicuous white cheek and throat stripes and brown underparts streaked white. The bill is mainly black, the eyes yellow-orange and the legs green. Females are more mottled and less boldly patterned, while juveniles are browner and heavily spotted buff or white (HeronConservation; Wikipedia, general species account).

Its core range lies in southern China and northern Vietnam, where it uses subtropical evergreen forest along quiet rivers, shaded streams and ravines; occasional birds have also been detected in northeastern India. Largely nocturnal, it feeds on small fish, shrimp and other aquatic invertebrates. A deep rasping call may reveal a territorial bird after dark. Breeding is recorded in both China and Vietnam: a tray-like tree nest holds three to five eggs, and incubation lasts about 25 days (HeronConservation; He et al. 2011).