CHINESE POND-HERON Ardeola bacchus

Commonly found in many parts of Southeast Asia,breeding mainly in China. The breeding plumage is very striking and much more colourful than immature and non-breeding birds. Hong Kong, where the breeding birds were taken, is near the southern limit of the breeding range, but birds migrate further south, the non-breeding bird being taken in Thailand. A vagrant has been accepted in the UK, personally I cannot understand it as it was a near-adult.

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