Rufescent Tiger-Heron Tigrisoma lineatum Scientific name definitions

Though diligent and quiet, observers may encounter this reclusive heron standing still along sluggish streams and backwater swamps. The Rufescent Tiger-Heron generally is the least-frequently encountered of the three species of Tigrisoma, and is considered uncommon to rare through much of its range.  However, towards the southern end of its range, where it becomes the only Tiger-Heron present, they become more common and easier to see.  Found in lowlands from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, adult Rufescent Tiger-Herons are easily separated from the other species of tiger-heron by their rich rufous upperparts, especially the head and neck. Generally, immature tiger-herons are best left unidentified. With some practice, however, immature Rufescent Tiger-Herons may be identified by their more rufous head and neck. The shorter and stouter bill may also be a useful field mark, though this requires prior experience with all three species. Habitat is one of the best clues to identification; the species most similar to Rufescent, the Fasciated Tiger-Heron Tigrisoma fasciatum, usually is found on larger, faster-flowing streams and riverbanks, and primarily occurs at higher elevations.

66–76 cm; 840 g (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Unmistakable, with rich chestnut head and neck, narrowly white-banded slate-coloured flanks and underwings, ochre-tinged grey abdomen, blackish back and tail speckled and flecked with brown, dark grey wings  , and long dark olive to blackish tarsus, green. Bare-part colours very variable: dark maxilla (olive-black, yellow-brown or black) and pale mandible (yellow, green or pale olive-buff), yellow skin at bill base and periorbital skin  , yellow to pale brown eyes, and lores intricately patterned, yellow above and below, and grey in centre; during courtship bare parts brighten, the eyes turning bright red. In Central America might be confused with T. mexicanum, but has much more rufous (less dark brown) head and neck, whereas over most of South America it is T. fasciatum that is the principal confusion risk, from which present species is separated in being slightly larger, with longer legs below the knee, more slender, straighter bill, chestnut (not barred) head and neck, pale-banded (not uniform grey) flanks and ochre-tinged grey (not tawny) rear underparts. Juvenile bright cinnamon-buff with broad brown and black barring, more narrowly so on head, neck, thighs and tail; eyes yellow , bill pale horn and shorter than adult, legs yellow, and lores and bill base whitish; subsequent plumages  much closely recall adult, but black barring on neck only disappears gradually over c. 3–4 years. Separated with difficulty from same-age T. fasciatum, but note same bill-shape differences as in adults (except in very young birds) and also has less barring on flanks (but latter feature very difficult to see in the field). Race <em>marmoratum</em> larger, with gular feathering over base of lower mandible, as in T. fasciatum. Some adults dark-crowned and boldly streaked; this feature formerly considered to represent geographical variation and named bolivianium, but now known to be no more than individual variation (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Typically found along wooded banks of slow-flowing rivers , and in swamps and marshes of tropical zone; also in mangroves, and sometimes occurs in hilly areas. Recorded to 900 m in Peru (3 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), with a single record at 1150 m in Bolivia (4 Lane, D. F. (2014). New and noteworthy records of birds in Bolivia. Cotinga 36:56–67. Close ).

Sedentary.

Little known. Fish  (Hoplosternum, Synbranchus) (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), aquatic insects, amphibians  , crustaceans, snakes  (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), grasshoppers, water beetles and dragonfly larvae and imagines; occasionally colubrid snakes and even small caiman  . Feeds by means of Standing or Walking Slowly (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ) in streams, creeks and patches of open water in marshes. Has been observed using tiny pieces of bread as bait for small fishes (Cichlidae) (5 Teixeira, D.M. (1991). O uso de Instrumentos por algumas aves brasileiras. Ararajuba. 2: 89-90. Close ). Solitary or in pairs, very rarely in flocks and usually strongly territorial when feeding (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), but does join concentrations of other mainly piscivorous birds such as storks, ibises, spoonbills and other herons (6 Frederick, P.C. and Bildstein, K.L. (1992). Foraging ecology of seven species of Neotropical ibises (Threskiornithidae) during the dry season in the llanos of Venezuela. Wilson Bull.. 104(1): 1–21. Close ) during dry season in wetlands such as Pantanal (S Brazil) and Venezuelan llanos, when food is highly concentrated in remaining areas of water. Mostly crepuscular and nocturnal, but also regularly feeds by day.

Vocalizations include a “wok, wok” or “uuk-uuk-uuk-uuk-uuk...” in alarm, a “quoh, h, h” in contact nocturnally, and song is a rhythmic groaning or nasal humming, rendered “WOO-HOO, WOO-Hoo, woo-hoo, woo-hoo, woo-hoo, woo-hoo, wu-hu...”, which slows and decreases in volume at end, as well as bill-snapping, in courtship, at dusk and at night (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ).

Little known, but season (based on few observations) suspected to be Mar–Nov in Costa Rica (7 Furino, S. and García Quesada, M. (2008). Seven nests of Rufescent Tiger Heron Tigrisoma lineatum in Costa Rica. Cotinga. 30: 74-75. Close ), Apr in Panama (8 Dyrcz, A. (1999). Nesting of the Rufescent Tiger-Heron Tigrisoma lineatum on Barro Colorado Island (Republic of Panama). Ornitología Neotropical. 10(1): 105–106. Close ) Mar–Nov in Colombia (9 Hilty, S. L., and W. L. Brown (1986). A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), Mar–Apr in E Ecuador (10 English, P. and Bodenhorst, C. (1991). The voice and first nesting records of the Zigzag Heron in Ecuador. Wilson Bull.. 103(4): 661-664. Close , 11 Greeney, H. F., R. A. Gelis, and R. White (2004). Notes on breeding birds from an Ecuadorian lowland forest. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 124:28–37. Close ), Jul–Sept in Venezuela (12 Thomas, B. T. (1979). The birds of a ranch in the Venezuelan llanos. In Vertebrate Ecology of the Northern Neotropics (J. F. Eisenberg, Editor), Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 213–232. Close ), May–Jun in Surinam, Dec–Jan (13 Maurício, G. N., G. A. Bencke, M. Repenning, D. Borges Machado, R. A. Dias, and L. Bugoni (2013). Review of the breeding status of birds in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Iheringia Série Zoológica 103(2):163–184. Close ) in S Brazil  and Jan–Feb in Argentina (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). Solitary breeder (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), but may nest in close proximity to other herons, e.g. Zebrilus undulatus (10 English, P. and Bodenhorst, C. (1991). The voice and first nesting records of the Zigzag Heron in Ecuador. Wilson Bull.. 103(4): 661-664. Close ). Nests quite high up in trees , e.g. Mimosa bimucronata (Fabaceae) (13 Maurício, G. N., G. A. Bencke, M. Repenning, D. Borges Machado, R. A. Dias, and L. Bugoni (2013). Review of the breeding status of birds in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Iheringia Série Zoológica 103(2):163–184. Close ), up to c. 7–8 m above ground or water (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), although ground nest recorded in captivity; nest in large but comparatively flimsy platform of sticks  c. 50 cm in diameter (8 Dyrcz, A. (1999). Nesting of the Rufescent Tiger-Heron Tigrisoma lineatum on Barro Colorado Island (Republic of Panama). Ornitología Neotropical. 10(1): 105–106. Close ). Clutch 1–3 blue-white to dirty white eggs  , with pale violet, dull red and grey-brown markings, mean size 56·8 mm × 43·2 mm (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ); incubation 31–34 days, apparently by female only (captivity); chicks have white down  and short white crest, with bare yellow throat, yellow eyes and bill, and dull black legs and feet, and are fed by both adults at night (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close , 7 Furino, S. and García Quesada, M. (2008). Seven nests of Rufescent Tiger Heron Tigrisoma lineatum in Costa Rica. Cotinga. 30: 74-75. Close ). No further information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). No information available on overall status and population size, but is very widespread, even occurring in green areas in some large cities and is presumably not threatened, despite deforestation and human disturbance throughout much of its range (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). Records in extreme N of range, in S Mexico, Belize and NE Guatemala, unconfirmed and might reflect confusion with T. mexicanum (14 Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA. Close , 15 Jones, H.L. (2002). Erroneous and unconfirmed bird records frorn Belize: setting the record straight. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 122(3): 201–216. Close ). Said to be rare in parts of Nicaragua, though perhaps commoner than has been suggested (16 Sandoval, L. and Arendt, W.J. (2011). Two new species for Nicaragua and other notes on the avifauna of the Atlantic Region and Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor. Cotinga. 33: 50–57. Close ); estimated 15 breeding pairs at lagoons of R Cañas, in Costa Rica. Considered to be slowly increasing in Panama (2 Kushlan, J. A., and J. A. Hancock (2005). The Herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). Thinly spread over much of Colombia, but commoner in llanos; locally common too in llanos of Venezuela, and 64 individuals seen at Hato el Frio in 1984; uncommon in Peru and considered rare in W Ecuador (17 López-Lanús, B. and Gastezzi, P. (2000). An inventory of the birds of Segua Marsh, Manabí, Ecuador. Cotinga. 13: 59–64. Close , 18 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ) and on Trinidad (absent Tobago) (19 Kenefick, M., Restall, R. and Hayes, F.E. (2011). Birds of Trinidad & Tobago. Second edn. Christopher Helm, London. Close ). Local extensions of range have been reported recently in E Brazil (20 Antunes, A.Z. and Willis, E.O. (2003). Novos registros de aves para a Fazenda Barreiro Rico, Anhembi-São Paulo. Ararajuba. 11(1): 101–102. Close ).