A pair of black-crowned night herons (kwakk) is breeding for the first time in the wild in Malta.
The birds, which sport distinctive bright red eyes, have laid six eggs at the top of a tree at the Bird Park in Burmarrad. The eggs are expected to hatch very soon.
The nest was first discovered by park owner Kevin Mallia, who spotted it while carrying out maintenance work on August 8.
Ornithologist Natalino Fenech said the birds were probably the same pair that had tried to breed on top of the aviaries last May.
The aviaries house an array of water birds, including a colony of little egrets and cattle egrets.
The night herons’ first attempt had failed because the twigs of their nest were dragged away by other birds inside the aviary for their own nests.
A wild cattle egret, several of which breed within the confines of the park, also laid an egg inside the night herons’ nest.
It was subsequently abandoned when some of the eggs fell through the wire mesh and the only twig left was one that had a pine cone attached to it.
Dr Fenech hailed the breeding of black-crowned night herons as “very good news”, adding he was convinced that the area around the bird park had the potential to attract more breeding birds.
It would be nice if they survive
Several species of wild birds, he said, had started breeding at the bird park over the past years.
Little egrets, cattle egrets, coots, black-winged stilts, little bitterns, little crakes and great reed warblers have all bred within the grounds of the park.
“Most of these were new breeding birds for Malta when they were first discovered. Other birds, such as the moorhens, which are scarce breeders elsewhere, reproduce in considerable numbers at the park, ” Dr Fenech said.
“Although there is still a degree of illegal hunting, the fact that these night herons have survived means that there is a change for the better even in hunters’ mentalities as, otherwise, these birds would not have survived to breed. One hopes that they will continue to survive.”
He said that night herons were common migrants, seen mostly between mid-March and early May and between mid-August and mid-September.
“Flocks of 30 to 60 birds are not uncommon and some consisting of over 100 have been recorded locally. Most night herons we see in Malta come from eastern European countries and some from as far as Ukraine and Russia.
“The black-crowned night heron is known to live for over 16 years in the wild and it would be nice if the Maltese birds survive and are given a chance to continue to breed here,” he said.