Mangrove Trail #5 Nankeen Night Heron Traditional Cache

Time to pack the Kayak, Sunscreen, Insect repellent, plenty of water and enjoy day on the water Kayaking along the Port River Mangroves enjoying the sights and sounds and smells, This trail will take you towards St Kilda looping back and ending back close to the beginning, with luck you will see the Fish and Animals mentioned in the series, each listing will cover information on the Mangroves and different animals that live in or can be found around the Mangroves.

Nankeen Night Heron

The Nankeen Night Heron also commonly referred to as the Rufous Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus)  is coloured cinnamon-rufous on the back and sides merging into tints of cinnamon at the sides and blending into a white breast and underparts. Crown and bill are black; pale green skin between eye and beak. Legs are thick and pale green; tail is short. Breeding adults have long white plumes from the back of the neck. Flies with neck folded back; translucent flight feathers become bright rufous in sunlight. Males and females are coloured the same; males are slightly larger (55 to 65 centimetres). 

Juveniles are streaked white and pale brown to give a mottled appearance. The head is streaked on juvenile birds turning black on immature ones. 

The Nankeen Night Heron feeds at night; roosts by day in trees close to water also under jetties and wharves. While roosting the head is hunched down onto the shoulders but is extended when hunting. Found solitary or in groups; often large numbers roost together. 

Lives in wetlands, billabongs, flooded grasslands as well as in estuarine environments such as mangroves and tidal channels. Prefers sites with tall vegetation for cover and dense trees nearby for roosting. 

Common in the south-east and south-west; scarce in the interior.