Juvenile Nankeen Night-Herons on the Molonglo

[Wayne Gregson <>]

I came across a bird matching this description near Bega/Tathra last Monday.  My impression at the time was that it was a juvenile Striated Heron however it could have been a juvenile NNH based on the pics in this discussion.  the bird was by itself on the muddy verges of a drying creek. perhaps  it was on its way to New Zealand??!!

 

Wayne

 

From: John Harris

Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2017 3:29 PM

To: Martin Butterfield

Cc: chatline

Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Juvenile Nankeen Night-Herons on the Molonglo

 

 

I suppose for me the question is did the NN Herons breed here or did they breed elsewhere and come here for better wetlands or whatever. How far can NN Heroins who bred out west this year fly? I did suggest that they had bred here in the ACT in an earlier post but I admit to only seeing one adult this summer. Your idea for a post doc is spot on. Someone needs to catch a few of these juveniles and band them.  Almost anyone is more of an expert than me on this subject but the one in Ginninderra Creek which turns up every now and then of an evening in my GBS patch initially gave the IMPRESSION of being very young. It is of course in the obscurity of the dusk light that I see it fly but at first it seemed a very weak flyer, flapping about and hitting the reeds when it was obviously aiming a bit beyond them. 

 

 

 

From: "" <>
Date: Sunday, 5 February 2017 at 3:11 PM
To: Christine <>
Cc: chatline <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Juvenile Nankeen Night-Herons on the Molonglo

 

Looking at the 'Movements' section for this species in HANZAB the first words are "Poorly understood" which are I think HANZAB-speak for "Anyone gotta grant for a post-doc?".  However they specifically mention "dispersive movement from drying swamps of Murray- Darling...." and give other examples of birds moving from Victoria to Darwin and birds turning up in NZ and Christmas Island.

 

So my guess is they've a good breeding season out West, the cornucopia out there is running a tad empty and they've heard of the bounty out this way.

 

Martin

 

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

 

On 5 February 2017 at 14:28, Christine <> wrote:

Apparently there are still two at Jerra Wetlands this morning, and I came across two more at West Belconnen Ponds. Where are they coming from? Where are their parents?