White-crested Tiger-Heron Tigriornis leucolopha Scientific name definitions
- LC Least Concern
- Names (23)
- Monotypic
Text last updated July 22, 2014
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Species names in all available languages
Language | Common name |
---|---|
Bulgarian | Качулата тигрова чапла |
Catalan | martinet tigrat africà |
Czech | bukač západoafrický |
Dutch | Afrikaanse Tijgerroerdomp |
English | White-crested Tiger-Heron |
English (United States) | White-crested Tiger-Heron |
Finnish | afrikantiikerihaikara |
French | Onoré à huppe blanche |
French (France) | Onoré à huppe blanche |
German | Weißschopfreiher |
Japanese | アフリカトラフサギ |
Norwegian | dusktigerhegre |
Polish | tygryska białoczuba |
Portuguese (Angola) | Abetouro-tigre |
Portuguese (Portugal) | Garça-tigre |
Russian | Белохохлая тигровая выпь |
Serbian | Beloćuba tigrasta čaplja |
Slovak | tigrovanec bielochochlatý |
Spanish | Avetigre Africana |
Spanish (Spain) | Avetigre africana |
Swedish | afrikansk tigerhäger |
Turkish | Afrika Kaplan Balıkçılı |
Ukrainian | Бушля смугаста |
Tigriornis leucolopha (Jardine, 1846)
Definitions
- TIGRIORNIS
- leucolopha / leucolophos / leucolophus
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Field Identification
56–81 cm (1). White crest often half-hidden by other feathers, except when raised; otherwise has black crown and nape, buff-barred dark head-sides, neck , back and wings , with white tips to flight feathers, tail barred black and white, and underparts streaked buff and spotted black; bill long and slender, with blackish-brown maxilla and yellow-green mandible, eyes yellow, lores and periorbital skin greenish, and legs brown, yellow at rear. Appears more slender than large bitterns, as well as overall darker than, for example, Botaurus stellaris (unlikely to be ever found syntopically), while (if seen) white crest is diagnostic (2). Juvenile Nycticorax nycticorax and Calherodius leuconotus are both smaller than the present species and streaked (not barred) with white wing-covert spots. Female gives overall impression of being darker, due to narrower buff barring above; duller pinkish cinnamon below; bill, wings and perhaps overall size (1) tend to be smaller. Juvenile has much broader barring; generally appears more sandy or rufous, depending on age, although plumage maturation not fully described, much less understood (2).
Systematics History
Subspecies
Distribution
Equatorial rainforest belt of W Africa, from Senegal (3) E to Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, DRCongo and N Angola.
Habitat
Typically found at small streams, marshes or swampy areas inside dense primary or secondary (4) forest . Also on forested riverbanks and in tangled mangrove swamps.
Movement
Basically sedentary. Certain indications of vagrancy or some form of migratory movement.
Diet and Foraging
Small fish, crustaceans (crabs, crayfish) (2), spiders, insects, frogs, snakes and lizards, and probably highly opportunistic (2). Solitary; partially nocturnal, and active mainly around dawn and dusk. Feeding behaviour otherwise undescribed, but on some rivers in Liberia said to regularly fish from small rocky islands in rivers (4), while on Mt Nimba it generally forages along riverbanks (5).
Sounds and Vocal Behavior
Single- or double-noted booming, bittern-like note that may be repeated slowly for typically brief periods and is usually given at dusk or at night; apparently silent when flushed (6).
Breeding
Little known. Season varies locally, tending to coincide with rains; apparently Sept–Oct in Gambia (1) and Sierra Leone, Sept–Nov in Liberia (where nestlings reported in Nov–Jan) (4), May in Cameroon, Jan in Gabon (2), May–Jul in Angola (7), and nests with either eggs (Sept–Oct, Dec–Jan) or nestlings (Oct, Dec–Jan, May–Jun) found almost year-round in Congo-Kinshasa (8), with period of chick feeding coinciding with peak water levels. Solitary. Just three nests described to date (in Congo-Brazzaville, Gambia and Gabon), all fragile platforms of twigs 2–6 m above water, one with approximate dimensions of c. 40 cm across by 10 cm deep (1), once in mangrove (Rhizophora sp.) (1); one contained single beige-yellow egg with purple, blue-grey and reddish-brown markings (2), size 55 mm × 45 mm (2); the others both held single down-covered nestlings (1, 9). Incubation at least 29 days, possibly more; chicks have yellowish down, soon replaced with white down.
Conservation Status
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally uncommon to rare, though apparently less so in parts of Gabon , Congo basin (10, 11), Ghana and Liberia (4). Very difficult to see, and consequently little information available on status, population size and general biology, but is known from at least 60 localities across its range, including protected areas such as Korup National Park (Cameroon) (1), Lesio-Louna Reserve (9) and Odzala National Park (12) (Congo-Brazzaville), Kyobobo National Park (Ghana) (13), Cross River National Park and Afi River Forest Reserve (Nigeria) (14) and Fazao-Malfakassa National Park (Togo) (15). Only recently confirmed to occur in Gambia (1). Has disappeared from some localities in E Congo-Kinshasa due to habitat destruction.