Welcome to another installment in our series, What Bird is That?, where we explore the many birds that frequent your Adelaide Park Lands.

by Nicolas Munday - Adelaide Urban Birding

The subject of this article is a slender and elegant bird, frequently encountered both along waterways and in open country: the White-Faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae).    

Herons, together with Bitterns and Egrets, comprise the family Ardeidae, and have spread to every continent except Antarctica. 

Australia is home to approximately sixteen to eighteen species (depending on whether or not you include some vagrant species from South-East Asia within the official list), and of those species, the White-Faced Heron is easily the most widespread and commonly encountered. 

This bird has done reasonably well in urban areas, and particularly within your Adelaide Park Lands, where long grass and good access to water provide perfect hunting grounds.

Herons are superficially similar to other wading birds, particularly storks and cranes.  Herons are, however, generally much smaller than either storks or cranes (with a few exceptions), and in flight can be distinguished by their neck posture:  herons fly with their necks tucked up flush against their bodies, whereas storks and cranes fly with outstretched necks.

Herons are also iconic for undertaking a dramatic physical transformation during the breeding season.  Many species develop fine, elongated feathers called ‘nuptial plumes’ from their necks and backs which then drape over their wings like a shawl.  In some species, such as the Intermediate Egret, the transformation is so dramatic the plumes almost appear to cover the whole body like a fine mist.  In the White-Faced Heron, the effect is more subtle but nonetheless impressive.

Herons are often distinguished from Egrets, although the distinction is artificial.  Many of the birds we call ‘herons’, including the White-Faced Heron, are nested within the genus Egretta, and vice versa, many of the birds we call ‘Egrets’ are actually within the sister genus Ardea (‘Ardea’ meaning heron in Latin).  The distinction is thus one of convention: an Egret is a heron with completely or mostly white plumage.  The name has no taxonomic significance.

This convention has led to confusion in the common name that applies to one species, Egretta sacra, which has two colour morphs (grey and white) found in different parts of the country.  In the southern parts of the country, where most birds are grey, it is commonly called the ‘Eastern Reef Heron’, but is equally called the ‘Eastern Reef Egret’, particularly in the tropical north where the white morph predominates.  

Unlike most herons, which are more or less tied to water, White-Faced Herons are adaptable birds that are equally at home hunting for fish in streams as they are grasshoppers in open country.  

All herons are skilled hunters, and White-Faced Herons no exception, with necks that can stretch for more than the length of their body that, when held in an ‘s’-curve, can be ‘loaded’ almost like a spring, ready for a rapid strike when needed.  I have even seen one spear a frog with its beak in a matter of milliseconds, an astonishing (and disturbing) sight to say the least.

White-Faced Herons appear to be at no great risk of extinction, and it is possible their numbers are even on the increase.  In contrast, there is one iconic species in the Heron family that is not faring anywhere near as well: the Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus).  Reliant on dense reed beds and unmodified floodplains, this heaviest member of the heron family in Australia is now found in highly fragmented habitats, and is only rarely sighted in metropolitan Adelaide. 

Within Your Adelaide Park Lands, White-Faced Herons are frequently encountered along the Torrens Lake, particularly at Possum Park / Pirltawarldli (Park 1).  They are also commonly seen at Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16), the Adelaide Botanic Garden (Park 11), and in most of the southern parklands, particularly Veale Park / Walyu Yarta (Park 21).

Other resources

• There is an iNaturalist page where citizen scientists have recorded observations of the White Faced Heron in Australia.

• See the other birds featured in our Adelaide Park Lands “What Bird Is That"?” series.

Nicholas Munday is an environment and planning lawyer with degrees in law and science (evolutionary biology and ecology) from the University of Adelaide. 

He has a strong interest in biodiversity conservation and runs the ‘Adelaide Urban Birding’ Instagram account (@adelaideurbanbirding), dedicated to his photography of native birds in the Adelaide metropolitan area.

In his free time, Nicholas is well-known in the Adelaide choral music and theatre communities and also enjoys bushwalking, writing, and, of course, photography.  

The opinions expressed in this article are entirely those of the author. This author is not affiliated with the Adelaide Park Lands Association.