Indian Pond Heron Foods and Feeding Habits

The Indian pond heron or paddybird (Ardeola grayii) is a small heron. The Indian pond heron's feeding habitat is marshy wetlands. They usually feed at the edge of ponds but make extensive use of floating vegetation such as water hyacinth to access deeper water. They may also on occasion swim on water or fish from the air and land in deeper waters. They have also been observed to fly and capture fishes leaping out of water. Sometimes, they fly low over water to drive frogs and fishes towards the shore before settling along the shoreline.
They have been noted to pick up crumbs of bread and drop them on the water surface to bait fishes.
The primary food of these birds includes crustaceans, aquatic insects, fishes, tadpoles and sometimes leeches (Herpobdelloides sp.) Outside wetlands, these herons feed on insects (including crickets, dragonflies and bees, fish (Barilius noted as important in a study in Chandigarh) and amphibians.#indianpondheron #pondheron #paddybird