Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Colony Breeding of the Great White Egret and the Black-crowned Night Heron in Northern Regions of Bangladesh

Ashraful Kabir*
*Saidpur Cantonment Public College, Saidpur Cantonment-5311, Nilphamari, Bangladesh

Dewanand Makhan
*Willem Bilderdijkhove 19, 3438 PM Nieuwegein, The Netherland

Trevor J. Hawkeswood
*PO Box 842, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Saidpur and Parbatipur both are Upazila within the Nilphamari and Dinajpur districts of Bangladesh. In front of the Saidpur Pilot High School (Bangla School, established 1906) from 1979-2009, there grew a Sacred (Ficus religiosa L., Moraceae) where Large Egrets (Ardea alba L., 1758, Ardeidae) roosted and from 2011 to 2016 on the Parbatipur Railway Station (established, 1876) three Mango Trees (Mangifera indica L., Anacardiaceae), one Jackfruit Tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Moraceae) and one Red Cotton Tree (Bombax ceiba L., Malvaceae) were preferred breeding sites for the Black-crowned Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax, L., 1758, Ardeidae). Both bird species bred from May to November. A maximum of 60-70 heron and egret chicks died each year from thunderstorms, while occasionally crows damaged chicks causing them to fall from the trees. Those fallen chicks were usually caught by vagabond humans, then slaughtered. No hunting records were found for either place. Birds constructed their nests with cotton and twigs from the trees. Cotton was obtained from the Red Cotton Tree while twigs were collected from any dead trees. Dawn and evening were the feeding times.

Keywords: Colony breeding, Nest building, Northern regions of Bangladesh, Great White Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Biology, Host trees, Ficus religiosa, Moraceae, Mangifera indica, Anacardiaceae, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Moraceae, Bombax ceiba, Malvaceae.

Location: Saidpur and Parbatipur Upazila, Nilphamari and Dinajpur districts of Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Animal Health and Management

Commodity: Wild Birds

Objectives:

The objective of this study is to observe people’s consciousness and attitudes towards endemic wildlife, especially birds.

Methodology:

Study area: In Saidpur, the study area of the Great White Egret was in the southern part of Bangla High School. North, Eastern, and Western parts are the industrial areas. Only in the south-east are there some water resources and croplands. In Parbatipur, the railway station is aligned North-South. The heron colony is situated on the southern part of the railway platform. It's North and West part with some buildings and South and North-East portion a hatchery is still continuing with their projects and from here herons and cormorants collect fish.

In order to observe bird behavior, the first author regularly maintained a team of assistants for collecting field data about Egrets and Herons. Local people, especially those living near the breeding trees, were employed to deliver information about these birds. Both during the summer and the winter season, birds were observed vigorously. Feeding grounds around the colony were observed at all times, especially at dawn and during evening hours during the feeding of the chicks. After any observed natural calamity, the fate of chicks, eggs, and adults was witnessed. Because the Herons’ nest is a twig nest and therefore very lightweight, any strong wind easily blew it to the ground thereby damaging eggs. Sometimes people caught injured chicks and after treatment, they placed them back on the tree for normal fledging development.

Source of Information: Calodema, 716: 1-8 (2019)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Heronries have significant importance not only to ornithologists, biologists, and bird watchers but also to photographers, reporters and tourists. Many heronries are located all over the world - e.g. Karnataka in India, North Somerset in the UK and Florida in the USA (Anonymous, 2004). Hatching success in the Pond Heron (Ardea grayii Sykes) has reached 82%. There are some factors that affect the distribution of herons as well as its breeding biology that have been discussed widely. When Cormorant and Pond Heron coexist distances between nests can be 0.5-1 metre. Tamarind trees have more forked branches which are good for nesting herons. The major causes of the egg loss of Pond Heron are strong winds. The nestlings do not accept any food during 1-3 days after hatching. Ali & Ripley (1968) stated that the nest of the Pond Heron is more substantial than that of the “dove” (Columba sp., Columbidae). Pond Herons are less colonial than Cattle and Little Egrets (Subramanya, 2005). Yesmin et al. (2001) mentioned in their findings, that the hatching success of the Pond Heron is 46.1% while 8.5% of nestlings were lost due to natural calamities, 5.7% from ectoparasitic diseases and 2.85% from starvation. Wood (1951) mentioned that the Black-crowned Night-heron is a summer resident bird. Indian Pond Heron’s hatching success was 75.31% and overall breeding success 59.26%. Its chicks are partially precocial.

Knowledge Management: Journal