FIRST RECORD OF SUCCESSFUL BREEDING OF THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED WHITE-BELLIED HERON (ARDEA INSIGNIS) IN BROADLEAVED TREES

The global population of White-bellied Heron Ardea insignis is likely in
rapid decline across its native range and verging on extinction.
Although studies focusing on foraging habitat preferences and feeding
ecology have been conducted in the past, its nesting ecology and
breeding biology are poorly understood. Moreover, earlier records
indicated that the bird exclusively nests on chir pine trees in
temperate forest between the altitudes of 600-1200 m. Here, we report
the first record of successful breeding on broadleaved trees in Bhutan.
The two nests we discovered were platforms made from dried twigs and
small leafless branches on the topmost canopies of two broadleaved
species Michelia champaca, and Pterospermum acerifolium in riverine
forest. Five juveniles (two from one nest and three from the other)
fledged from these nests which were at much lower altitudes than
previously known. These findings suggest a possibility of a wider
distribution of nesting habitat in the region and a need for further
research and protection of this heron’s primary riverine habitat to save
this bird from extinction.