What to Know About a Purple Heron in Uganda?

The Purple Heron in Uganda is one of the African birds in Uganda seen during Uganda birding tours. It is an elongated, narrow-bodied wide-ranging wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, order-Pelecaniformes.

Its names Ardea purpura purprea comes from Latin words Ardea “heron” and purpureus “colored purple”.

This dark grey medium heron has a length of 78-90cm, its wingspan is between 120-150cm, and it also weighs 525-1345g.

A purple hero is a migrant bird that breeds in Africa, central and southern Europe, and southern and eastern Asia.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Look Like?

The Purple Heron a tall narrow-bodied heron, with a long billed head and neck. It is a medium-sized heron with whole dark grey, except the orange chestnut head and neck, and chestnut breast.

The mature purple heron has a black crown with two black lanceolate plumes up to 15 cm long.

It has purple-brown plumage and slate grey wings; the breast is reddish-brown and its belly is black, while its sides and scapulars are reddish purple.

Its long feathers on the crest and crown are black and the rear neck is pale reddish brown. The purple heron`s bill is yellow and longer than that of any other heron species and the eyes are pale.

The neck is white with black streaks running down the neck sides from the upper breast.

The tall legs and feet are orange yellow, its toes are longer than those of other heron species which allows the purple heron to walk on floating vegetation and thick bushes.

It can easily be identified by its long toes during flight.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Make Calls and Sing?

A purple heron makes calls similar to that of a grey heron during flight. Aloud voice ringing “krank” and kar-kar-kar” can be heard at nest and when its taking off. But generally, it is a silent bird.

Where Does a Purple Heron of Uganda Live?

When purple herons are breeding, they prefer mashes and lakes with wide-spread reedbeds, and when its not breeding season, they can be seen more on open wetlands with fringing vegetation.

They breed from tropics to mid-temperate areas. They can be found all over Europe, Southern Asia and Africa.

In Uganda, purple herons can be found along the shores of river Nile in Murchison Falls National Park.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Behave?

The purple heron can remain in estuaries more than a grey heron. It is a shy and a singly hunter bird, mainly in the evening and early morning.

Grey herons like harassing them whenever they are hunting together. The purple heron protects its grounds by puffing out its neck feathers and raising its crest.

During breading, its breast feathers are hanging and the whole of its color becomes brighter.

What Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Feed On?

Purple herons feed in shallow water, waiting stand still in freshwater wetlands to catch the prey.  It stalks the fish and frogs slowly or pierces them with its strong bill.

While hunting early morning or in the evening, the purple heron waits for the prey under cover, it rarely hunts in deep water and at times it roosts on trees above water probing for food.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Breed?

The purple heron gains a brighter color during breeding, it displays courtship in decorative postures, with bungled out neck feathers, bills pointed upwards while their heads and neck lengthened straight.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Nest?

The nest of a purple heron is made of stems and sticks. The platform is made by bending over the reeds which are firmly positioned by with sticks.

The nest can be about 36cm wide and 18cm thick. The purple heron nests higher in thickets and mangroves about 3-4m when it nests in trees, they can reach 25m.

The nest site is chosen by the male, the male brings the materials and the female builds the nest.

Sometimes they build supplementary nests alongside the main nest for the other adult to use when its mate is incubating and also by the chicks when they leave the nest before fledging. They nest in smaller colonies.

How Does a Purple Heron in Uganda Reproduce?

The female purple heron lays between 2 to 5 pale blue-green eggs, the eggs are incubated by both parents for about 25 to 30 days.

After hatching, both parents protect and feed their chick with regurgitated food directly into the chicks` bill in the nest.

Tin most cases, the chicks fight each other and the youngest or weak one dies. The chicks leave the nest at around 10days after hatching and remain around in the branches on supplementary nests of they hide in thick reedbed.

The chicks fledge about 3 months after hatching and their sexual maturity is at one year.