Oriental Darter

Description:

"[The Oriental Darter] has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill...[P]lumage above is black and the wing coverts and tertials having silvery streaks along the shaft. The crown and neck are brown shading to black towards the back of the neck. The underparts are blackish brown. A pale line over the eye and throat and a line running along the sides of the neck gives it a striped appearance. The iris is white with a yellow ring (brighter yellow in breeding birds) around it. The tip of the upper mandible is dark while the base is pale brown bill while the lower mandible is yellowish. The legs and webbing on the foot are yellow in immatures and non-breeding birds while breeding birds have darker grey tarsi and toes with yellow webbing." (Wiki)

Habitat:

Sitting in the tree after in the Prek Toal Core Bird Reserve, Tonle Sap Lake, near Siem Reap; after flying away as the boat came along.

Notes:

Listed as Near Threatened under the IUCNredlist. "The sanctuary harbours seven species of water birds of global significance: Spot billed Pelican, Milky Stork, Painted Stork, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Black headed Ibis, Oriental Darter, there is a globally significant population of Grey-headed Fish Eagles and the secretive Masked Finfoot was spotted on an SVC trip in March 2011, over 150 species have been recorded in the reserve. The Prek Toal area consists of seasonally inundated freshwater swamp forest with a high botanical diversity. Short tree shrub makes up most of the landscape, forming a dense under story with scattered large trees, which form the vital nesting ground for large water birds. Prek Toal is unmatched throughout South East Asia for the number and populations of endangered water birds it supports through the dry season. Large flocks of cormorants, storks and pelicans are almost guaranteed from January to May, along with herons, egrets and terns." (Sam Veasna Center) http://samveasna.org/bird-site/prek-toal... According to the Birdlife International (2016) species factsheet, "Cambodia (abundant in early 1960s with flocks reported to be totalling several thousand observed on the Mekong; currently a local resident in small numbers and still breeds on Tonle Sap Lake, where the largest colony at Prek Toal has grown from 241 nests in 2002 to 6-7,000 nests in 2011)..." Reference: Identification verified by our guide from the Sam Veasna Center.