Little Heron

Butorides atricapilla ‡

Freshwater Lake outfall, Centenary Lakes, Cairns, FNE Qld IMG_0764 20260217 - macrorhyncha grey form.
CLICK for same bird, different light.

Notes: Small stocky heron w. black cap touching eye & to nape, large head & grey/yellow bill.
Black streak on face. Short yellow legs, orange when breeding. Dimorphic w. rufous & greyish
forms. Ssp macrorhyncha of E coast (short-billed, greyish & red-brown forms); ssp stagnatilis
(long-billed, paler, greyer in N but further S in Pilbara, a reddish-brown tinge). Cf. Nankeen
Night Heron. Mainly in mangroves; forages in creeklines, tidal flats when tide
low.

Range from Morcombe©
Cairns Foreshore, FNE Qld IMG_4251 20240415 - macrorhyncha common rufous form in Cairns. CLICK for young adult
Cairns North on 20230312. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_6333 20240201 - macrorhyncha grey form, catching fish. CLICK for positioning. Foreshore, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_5312 20231008 - macrorhyncha rufous form. CLICK for another at Cairns Ports,
20231003. Foreshore, Cairns, FNE Qld IMG_9665+9671 20200528 - macrorhyncha, grey and rufous forms. Centenary Lakes, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_9746 20210502 - macrorhyncha pale grey form. CLICK for rufous form
with a remarkably long neck-stretch. 20240406. Cairns Foreshore, FNE Qld IMG_3371 20210529 - macrorhyncha juvenile: brownish black crown, coarse buff & dark
streaking on sides of throat, bold buff-white spotting on upperwing coverts. CLICK for on 20200502 Cairns Foreshore, FNE Qld IMG_1462 20191025 - macrorhyncha juvenile flying. CLICK for a juvenile on 20210514. Wyndham, FNE WA IMG_7470 20180814 - stagnatilis paler, greyer than E coast birds. Wyndham, FNE WA IMG_5177 20180930 - stagnatilis Pilbara area birds have reddish-brown tinge upperparts, pale
reddish-buff underparts. CLICK for another view of this one. Foreshore, Cairns, FNE Qld IMG_6870 20200412 - macrorhyncha Note erectile crest. One Tree, Roebuck Bay, Broome, NW WA MVI_2222 20180910 - stagnatilis with mud skipper prey.

Freshwater Lake, Centenary Lakes, Cairns, FNE Qld IMG_6468 20230819 macrorhyncha juvenile hunting.