Chinese Pond Heron

Separation of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus from Javan Pond Heron A. speciosa in non-breeding plumage is extremely difficult, some would say impossible. A possible way is to see whether the outermost primaries show dusky tips. Most of the Pond Herons which we saw on this day showed dusky tips in flight including, I believe, this one.

Chinese Pond Heron is an East Asian bird of the heron family. It is one of six species of birds known as “pond herons” (genus Ardeola). It is parapatric (or nearly so) with the Indian Pond Heron A. grayii to the west and Javan Pond Heron A. speciosa to the south, and these three are presumed to form a superspecies. It is found in shallow fresh and salt water wetlands and ponds in China and adjacent temperate and subtropical East Asia. Essentially a lowland bird, its range is delimited by the subarctic regions in the north, and by the mountain ranges in the west and south.

Reference: Wikipedia