White-necked Heron

Scientific name: Ardea pacifica

Meaning of name:

Ardea is Latin for heron. Pacifica refers to the Pacific Ocean.

Aboriginal Name:

Djilimilyan (chil’ee’mill’yawn).

Distribution:

Widespread across Australia but absent from the dry interior.

Description:

Up to 106 centimetres long with a 160 centimetre wingspan.

Notes:

The furthest distance recorded by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme for this species of bird to travel is 248 km. The oldest bird recorded was recovered 1 year 1.3 months after being banded (information as at 13 June 2012). These figures seem small for a bird of this size but we must take into account that there have only been 6 records made.

References:

Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Various contributors.

What Bird is That? Neville W Cayley. 1978

Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage. Ian Abbott. 2009. Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. Volume 7 No 2 https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/Journals/080559/080559-07.015.pdf

Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/abbbs-search.html

Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/cf8e02dd-2a6e-41dc-b14b-0e446444250a