White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) from Calamvale Creek, Brisbane, Australia<title> <link rel="icon" href= "http://calamvalecreek.awardspace.com/favicon.ico" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href= "http://calamvalecreek.awardspace.com/favicon.ico" /> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content= "text/html; charset=us-ascii" /> <meta name="description" content= "This is a white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) photographed at Calamvale Creek, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. White-faced herons are medium-sized blue-grey birds with long necks, white faces and throats. They have long pointed dark grey bills and long, thin, yellow legs. Australian birds and water birds." /> <meta name="keywords" content= "white-faced heron, herons, Egretta novaehollandiae, Ardea novaehollandiae, Notophoyx novaehollandiae, blue heron, Australian birds and water birds, medium-sized blue-grey bird with white face and throats, long neck, long pointed dark grey bill and long, thin, yellow legs" /> <meta name="author" content= "Robert Doolan / Original design: Andreas Viklund - http://andreasviklund.com/" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="creek.css" /> </head> <body> <div id="wrap"> <div id="header"> <h1>Calamvale Creek</h1> <p><strong>“He leadeth me beside the still waters”</strong><br /> (Psalm 23:2)</p> </div> <img id="frontphoto" src="top_pic2.jpg" width="760" height="89" alt="A great egret looks for breakfast at Calamvale Creek" name= "frontphoto" /> <div id="avmenu"> <h2 class="hide">Menu:</h2> <ul> <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> <li><a href="creek1.html">The creek</a></li> <li><a href="birds1.html">Birds</a></li> <li><a href="insects1.html">Insects</a></li> <li><a href="spiders1.html">Spiders</a></li> <li><a href="reptiles1.html">Reptiles</a></li> <li><a href="amphibians1.html">Amphibians</a></li> <li><a href="fish1.html">Fish</a></li> <li><a href="map1.html">Map</a></li> <li><a href="calamvale1.html">Photos of Calamvale</a></li> </ul> <div class="announce"> <h3>Scientific stuff</h3> <p><strong>White-faced heron</strong><br /> Also called<br /> <strong>blue crane</strong>,<br /> <strong>blue heron</strong>,<br /> <strong>grey heron</strong> (erroneously)</p> <p><strong>Species</strong>:<br /> <em>Egretta novaehollandiae</em><br /> (formerly <em>Ardea novaehollandiae</em>, <em>Notophoyx novaehollandiae</em>)<br /> Family:<br /> Ardeidae<br /> Order:<br /> Ciconiiformes<br /> Size:<br /> 65 centimetres<br /> (26 inches)</p> <p><strong>Identification</strong>:<br /> Medium-large light blue-grey water bird with long neck. White around face and upper throat. Bill is storm-grey, long, slender, and pointed. Legs are coloured ochre-yellow.</p> <p>White-faced herons wade in shallow water, and often plunder suburban fish ponds.</p> <p>Males and females look similar, and when breeding they have tufts of long feathers (nuptial plumes) on the head, neck and back.</p> <p class="textright"><strong>Personality</strong>:<br /> Patient stalker, but likes easy ways to get a meal, so it commonly raids uncovered fish ponds, fish farms, and hatcheries.</p> </div> <div class="announce"> <h3>Using our photos</h3> <p>Photos on this website are copyright. If you want to use any, email us at: <a href= "mailto:creeklife@gmail.com">creeklife@gmail.com</a></p> </div> </div> <div id="extras"> <h3>Harry's photos</h3> <p>Like the <a href="sugar.html">royal spoonbills</a> and some of the larger water birds that visit <a href="creek1.html">Calamvale Creek</a>, Harry calls in to see how the fishing is, and stays as long as he doesn't have to work too hard to find a meal.</p> <p>The photographer said:<br /> “White-faced herons are pretty birds, and they are interesting to watch.</p> <p>“Harry is an opportunist. He will take advantage of easy ways to catch lunch if he can.</p> <p>“I used this personality trait to my advantage when I was taking photos of him.</p> <p>“He was quite a distance from me and my camera, and I couldn't get close enough to get good photos.</p> <p>“But I noticed he wasn't having much success catching fish, so I stirred up the water in the creek near where I wanted him. This brought a lot of fish to that spot, and soon Harry noticed the fish activity there and came over to take advantage of this feast.</p> <p>“So he got a good meal, and I got some good photos.”</p> </div> <h2>Critters of Calamvale Creek</h2> <div id="content"> <h3>Harry the white-faced heron</h3> <p>Also called <strong>blue crane</strong>, <strong>grey heron</strong> (erroneously), <strong>blue heron</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Egretta novaehollandiae</em></strong></p> <p>Hello fish-lovers. I'm Harry the white-faced heron. I fly all over the place looking for easy ways to find food.</p> <img alt="Egretta_novaehollandiae_2 (22K)" src= "Pix/Birds/Egretta_novaehollandiae_2.jpg" height="265" width= "420" hspace="12" /> <p>I am not particular when it comes to a food source. I fly to various wetlands, creeks, swamps, coastal reefs, the Brisbane River, and tidal mudflats. I get a lot of variety in my diet that way.</p> <p><img alt="white-faced_heron_1 (31K)" src= "Pix/Birds/white-faced_heron_1.jpg" height="280" width="420" hspace="12" /></p> <p>I'm a quiet bird when fishing. I don't say much — I just wait and stalk my prey without making a sound. The photo above is deceptive. It looks like I'm yelling, but actually I've got my bill open because I just swallowed a long and hard water critter, and it was playing havoc with my throat as it went down. This photo caught me in the middle of a choking cough.</p> <h3>What do I eat?</h3> <p><img alt="white-faced_heron_5 (20K)" src= "Pix/Birds/white-faced_heron_5.jpg" height="352" width="260" align="left" hspace="7" />I take a wide variety of food, depending where I go. In summer and autumn I spend a little more time wading in intertidal habitats, and in winter and spring I spend more time foraging on land, sometimes in pastures or on farmland.</p> <p>I like small fish, but also eat prawns, small frogs, spiders, worms, molluscs, and insects.</p> <p>I don't use a lot of energy hunting for my food. When wading in shallow water I wait till I see something in the water and then quickly try to snap it up. Sometimes I don't have a high success rate. That's why, when I'm flying from one feeding ground to another, I look out for uncovered fish ponds in suburban yards, fish farms and fish hatcheries, so I can stop off to get snacks along my journey.</p> <h3>Who are my friends?</h3> <p><img alt="white-faced_heron_3 (34K)" src= "Pix/Birds/white-faced_heron_3.jpg" height="236" width="420" hspace="12" /></p> <p>Most water birds get on well with me, and the ducks at Calamvale Creek seem to hang around me as though I am one of them. You can see me in the photo above feeding next to <a href= "chuck.html">Chuck the Duck</a>.</p> <p>When I'm foraging on mudflats I usually like to be alone, and will defend my feeding territory.</p> <h3>Where do I breed, and what does my nest look like?</h3> <p><img alt="Egretta_novaehollandiae_4 (16K)" src= "Pix/Birds/Egretta_novaehollandiae_4.jpg" height="350" width= "200" align="right" hspace="7" />White-faced herons mostly breed between October and December. We may breed at any other time of the year if there is a lot of rain and good food supplies.</p> <p>Mother and father heron both share the nest building, incubating the eggs, and caring for the kids.</p> <p>We build our nest high in a suitable tree, which may be nowhere near the water. The nest is often an untidy dish-like structure of sticks.</p> <p>We usually have only one brood of three or four chicks a year, although there may occasionally be six chicks. Mrs White-faced Heron's eggs are pale blue-green, and are 48 millimetres long and 35 mm wide.</p> <p>When white-faced herons are young their colours are not as prominent as adults'. They have very little white on their faces, and may display a red tinge on the underparts.</p> <p><img alt="white-faced_heron_6 (26K)" src= "Pix/Birds/white-faced_heron_6.jpg" height="245" width= "420" /></p> <p>I have good eyesight, and can stand still or move super-slowly for a long time looking for movement in the water. Just look at the photo above. I'm staying absolutely still waiting for fish. You could come back and look at this photo tomorrow and you will see that I haven't moved.</p> <p>— Harry the white-faced heron</p> </div> <div id="footer">Critters of Calamvale Creek is an eco-awareness concept.<br /> Copyright © 2007 — Robert Doolan. 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