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Agami Heron /chesnut-bellied heron(Agamia agami) |
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28” (71cm); 550g. very long neck and bill, relatively short legs. Adults:head black, with long, blue-gray occipital plumes; neck maroon, with chestnut and midventral stripe, silvery “filigree” on lower foreneck; belly chestnut; upperparts dark glossy green. Iris orange to reddish-brown; bill blackish, shading to grayish-green at base of lower mandible; facial skin yellow-green; legs blackish. Breeding: conspicuous, elongate pale blue-gray plumes on back; facial skin reddish (males) or green (females). Immature: face and neck glossy brown; mantle blackish-brown; breast buffy, streaked with dark brown, shading to whitish on belly.
Habits
Stalks along shady streams and swamps in humid forest, wading in shallow water, walking along logs and sandbars; catches small fishes in pools and riffles, frogs and lizards from banks and overhanging vegetation; usually solitary; perches in tree when alarmed.
Status
Uncommon to rare resident in humid lowland forest of Caribbean slope and Golfo Dulce district, including Peninsula de Osa. Only know breeding colony(ca. 15 pairs) at Westfalia, S of Limon.
Range
S mexico to NW Ecuador, N Bolivia, and C Brazil.
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