Malagasy pond heron
species of bird
The Malagasy pond heron (Ardeola idae), also known as the Madagascar pond heron or Madagascar squacco heron, is a species of heron of the family Ardeidae. They breed in Madagascar, Réunion and the Seychelles, and spend the non-breeding season in eastern mainland Africa. As of 2021, the population is estimated to number between 1,000 – 2,500 adults and the species is considered endangered.
Taxonomy
The Malagasy pond heron was first described in 1860 by German physician and ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub. The species is monotypic, without distinct subspecies.
Description
Malagasy pond herons grow to 45–50 cm (18–20 in) in height and anywhere from 250–350 g (9–12 oz) in weight. There is not a large variation in weight between the sexes as they are quite similar in bone body structure. feather, eye, and bill colour are determined by life stage (chick, juvenile, and adult) and reproductive status.
The adults appearance can be split into the non-breeding plumage and the breeding stage. When the species is not breeding, the crown and the posterior are a colour mixture of buff and black with brown prominent over the other parts of the body.
“Malagasy pond heron” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Malagasy, pond and heron can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q498169. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 1860.
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This entry incorporates text from “Malagasy pond heron” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.