|
| |
|
Interesting animal species
The Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
In Poland it nests regularly only in the O¶więcim-Zator Region and in the neighbourhood of Skoczów - altogether approximately 400-500 pairs. It is an avian symbol of the area. The northern border of the Night Heron European range runs in Poland. The bird's Polish name (meaning a blind crow) is related to its nocturnal lifestyle. People seeing the Night Heron hidden amid vegetation regarded the bird as blind. The sound it makes is similar to crow cawing, hence the second part of the name. The Night Heron is a heron species, smaller then the common Ardea cinerea Grey Heron. It has very interesting colouring. Its upper body is contrasting black, grey and white; whereas the underparts are light-coloured. A few long white feathers growing at the back of its head are a characteristic feature of this bird. It feeds mainly on fish and amphibians. As a place for forming breeding colonies, the Night Heron prefers overgrown islands on ponds and water-filled gravel pits.
There is only one clutch per year and the female lays 3-6 blue-and-green eggs. The young hatch after around 21 days of incubation; they are covered with down and helpless. The Night Heron comes to Poland in April and flies away in September and October. It wanders to tropical Africa and a proof for that is the fact that two birds ringed as chicks in the commune of Czechowice-Dziedzice have been encountered in Nigeria and Libya. In the post-breeding period we may see Night Herons on most of the fish ponds, gravel pits and in river valleys. The birds usually stand still hidden in bushes at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey. They often sit on stakes stuck in the bottom, too.
|
| |
|
|
