English           -           Whistling Heron

Portuguese   -            Maria-faceira       

Latin               -           Syrigma sibilatrix

The whistling Heron has to be one of the most attractive big birds around. Really enjoyed photographing these guys. They are quite photogenic and unlike most other herons, won’t fly away when they see you. They don’t seem to be as common as other types of herons like the Great Egret or the snowy Egret, so when I did see one, it was always a bit of a treat. The first whistling heron I ever saw was sitting on the fence post. (photo No. 1 ) This photo was taken from a gravel road near Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu. (REGUA) as we were driving guests of REGUA to the start of one of the trails at the reserve.  Photo No 2 was taken at REGUA itself. It was taken early in the morning as the sun was coming up. The 2 Whistling Herons were perched in a tree on a small island in the reserves wetlands. (Yellow trail) The island was very close to my accommodation at the reserve and I used to get up in the mornings and take a look to see what was out and about. Quite a few times a saw a pair of Whistling Herons sitting in a tree on the island. Don’t think they were nesting there, it was more like a good place to groom each other. Photo No 3 was taken by a small road side pond near the small town of Bodoquena in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. We were driving down a gravel road after visiting a farm and my co-pilot (Celia) said, “we just passed a big bird”. I stopped and took a look and in this wee pond there were a few different species of birds including the Whistling Heron.

* The Whistling Heron is endemic to South America

* Can be found in eastern Colombia and in Venezuela as well as  northern Bolivia south through Paraguay and southern Brazil to Uruguay and northeastern Argentina.

* Medium to large bird with a length of 64cm and can weighs up to 546g.

* The Whistling Heron is one of the least aquatic species of Herons.

* Diet includes spiders, insects, earthworms, frogs and small reptiles.

* They nests alone, unlike most herons, which nest in colonies.

* Whistling Herons make a sort of whistling kne, kne sound.

* The female lays three or four eggs but only 2 nestlings normally survive and fledge after 42 days.

* Whistling Herons are locally common but patchily distributed. The species is not threatened at this moment and there for are classified as a species of “least concern”.