Nycticorax caledonicus (Gmelin, 1789)

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 23

RUFOUS NIGHT HERON Nycticorax caledonicus #

Range N. c. australasiae Biak, Numfor (D. Lopez-Velasco in litt. 2021), Yapen (specimen in American Museum of Natural History , New York, collected by W. Doherty, examined by J. Diamond in litt. 2021).

Status Resident ? Until recently known only from a juvenile collected by Feuilletau de Bruyn on the north coast of Biak in 1915 ( Hartert 1932). At dusk on 29 August 2015 KDB saw an adult fly into the tsunami swamp; singles in the same area 14 November 2017 (A. Walker, eBird checklist S46415753) and 26 September 2019 (P. Lansley, eBird checklist S88251028).