Ardeola speciosa
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The Javan pond heron (Ardeola speciosa) is a wading bird of the heron family, found in shallow fresh and salt-water wetlands in Southeast Asia. Its diet comprises insects, fish, and crabs. The Javan pond heron is typically 45 cm long with white wings, a yellow bill with a black tip, yellow eyes and legs. Its overall colour is orange, slaty and white during mating season, and brown and flecked with white out of the mating season. The non-breeding plumage is similar to that of the Chinese and Indian pond herons and is virtually indistinguishable in the field. It breeds from June to September. It is migratory.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Javan pond heron is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. BirdLife Species Factsheet Wikipedia →
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Thailand · 2024
© Greg Irving · XC936888 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Tangkoko Nature Reserve | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 5 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Makassar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Semarang | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Davao City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 6 | Surabaya | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Cebu City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 8 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 9 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 10 | Bandung | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Busch Gardens Tampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Tierpark Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Javan Pond Heron sighting in Kaeng Krachan National Park on a given day, based on 86 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 244th most-seen of the 360 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Javan Pond Heron in Kaeng Krachan National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. Those are among Kaeng Krachan National Park's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in December.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Javan Pond Heron sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Javan Pond Heron sightings, Kaeng Krachan National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 40%), Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 30%) and Tangkoko Nature Reserve (Indonesia, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Javan Pond Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Kaeng Krachan National Park (86 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
