White-bellied Heron

The white-bellied heron, also called the imperial heron, is the second largest heron, about 127 cm tall with an estimated mean weight of 3.2–3.4 kg. It has uniform dark grey plumage with a whitish belly, a white throat, and long silvery or whitish plumes on the rear crown and lower foreneck. The face is greenish grey, the bill 15–18 cm long and black but greenish near the base and tip, and the legs dull grey. Juveniles are browner above, with a paler bill and legs (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in the foothills of the eastern Himalaya in north-east India and Bhutan to northern Myanmar, on undisturbed rivers and wetlands in tropical and subtropical forest. It has been seen breeding in the Sankosh and Mangdechhu river basins of Bhutan, with nests in chir pine, champak and bayur trees at 400–1,430 m. In Arunachal Pradesh, repeated sightings along the Namdapha and Noa Dihing rivers show that Namdapha National Park is an important refuge and breeding site. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, with a Very Restricted range of about 4,600 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).