Feathered Friends

JOHN PETER BirdLife Australia

Although the Striated Heron, White-faced Heron and the Great Egret are widespread and common around Cairns, there’s another heron — the Pied Heron — that often flies under the radar. Rarer than the others, Pied Herons are usually seen around Cairns during the wet season, mainly around the ponds in the Botanic Gardens and along the Esplanade, but seldom elsewhere around town. Nevertheless, they’re found across much of northern Australia, as well as in New Guinea and Indonesia.

Generally quiet and unobtrusive, Pied Herons are usually seen singly or in small, loose flocks, but they often congregate to roost communally at night, perching together among the mangroves, then, in the morning, dispersing to feed.

Pied Herons usually forage in shallow, freshwater lagoons, estuaries and ponds, as well as on tidal flats and among mangroves. Their main feeding method is to stalk prey in the shallows or stand and wait for a frog or fish to come into range before spearing it, but they may also peck rapidly at insects in the foliage of wetland vegetation, and sometimes disturb aquatic prey by stirring up muddy water.

They nest during the Wet, often within colonies of other waterbirds, including other herons, spoonbills and ibis but — although there’s a breeding colony further south at Ayr — they don’t breed in the Cairns district, even though they occur here during the wet season. After the Wet, some of their number migrate north to New Guinea, returning late in the year.