Rufescent tiger heron

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Rufescent tiger heron
in the Pantanal, Brazil

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Tigrisoma
Species:
T. lineatum
Binomial name
Tigrisoma lineatum
(Boddaert, 1783)

The rufescent tiger heron (Tigrisoma lineatum) is a species of

Ardeidae
. It is found in wetlands from Central America through much of South America.

Juvenile - Sacha Lodge - Ecuador
T. l. lineatum, young adult, Panama

Taxonomy

The rufescent tiger heron was described by the French polymath

specific epithet lineatum is from the Latin lineatus meaning "marked with lines".[7]

Two subspecies are recognised:[6]

  • T. l. lineatum (Boddaert, 1783) – Honduras south to northeast Bolivia and Amazonian Brazil
  • T. l. marmoratum (Vieillot, 1817) – southeast Bolivia to south Brazil and north Argentina

Description

The rufescent tiger heron is a medium-sized heron, measuring 26–30 in (66–76 cm) in length,

powder down feathers on its back.[11]

The juvenile bird is rusty-buff overall, coarsely barred with black; the buff and black banding on its wings is especially pronounced. Its throat, central chest, and belly are white. It takes some five years to acquire adult plumage.[12]

Similar species

The adult rufescent tiger heron is relatively easy to distinguish from fasciated and bare-throated tiger herons, as it is rufous (rather than primarily gray) on the head and neck. Young birds, however, are much more difficult to identify.[9]

Distribution and habitat

The rufescent tiger heron is found in wetlands from Central America through much of South America.[12] It generally occurs below 500 m (1,600 ft), though it has been recorded as high as 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in Colombia.[9]

Behavior

It is largely

crepuscular and generally solitary.[9][13]

Food and feeding

As might be expected of a species that spends most of its time by the water, much of the rufescent tiger heron's diet is aquatic-based, including fish, crustaceans, water beetles, and dragonfly larvae. It also takes adult dragonflies and grasshoppers.[11] It typically hunts alone, standing hunched in shallow pools or wet areas of a forest while it waits for prey.[9]

Voice

The rufescent tiger heron's main call is a low-pitched paired hoot, often given at night.[12] It also gives a fast series of sharp wok notes, which decrease in volume and speed, and a prolonged hoot, transcribed as ooooooo-ooh which rises markedly at the end.[9]

Juvenile

Conservation

Although the rufescent tiger heron's population size and trend has not been quantified, its range is huge, so the

least concern.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ By convention, length is measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail on a dead bird (or skin) laid on its back.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2012). "Tigrisoma lineatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1780). "L'onoré rayé". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 14. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 181–182.
  3. Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "L'onoré rayé, de Cayenne"
    . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 9. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 860.
  4. ^ Boddaert, Pieter (1783). Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés (in French). Utrecht. p. 52, Number 860.
  5. ^ Swainson, William John (1827). "On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 343–363 [362].
  6. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Ibis, spoonbills, herons, hamerkop, shoebill, pelicans". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-857358-6
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-691-08372-8
    .
  10. ISBN 978-1-4200-6445-2
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4081-3496-2
    .
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-0-691-08529-6
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4081-5209-6
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tigrisoma lineatum.
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