Ardeola speciosa
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
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 →
Call0:10
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 |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Javan Pond Heron sighting in Way Kambas National Park on a given day, based on 96 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 47th most-seen of the 205 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Javan Pond Heron in Way Kambas National Park on a given day, against about 20% in April to June, the lowest months. That is one of Way Kambas National Park's driest months, with about 90 mm of rain against 370 mm in March. November to February have too few records to rate.
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.
2nd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Javan Pond Heron sightings, Way Kambas National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 40%).
Same family: Ardeidae
The closest relatives of the Javan Pond Heron that you can see in Way Kambas National Park (family Ardeidae, Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) are Purple Heron (about 30%), Little Egret (about 20%) and Great Egret (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Javan Pond Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Way Kambas National Park (96 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.
