The adult is slate-grey to black, which allows it to blend in with the hardened lava. The back feathers typically have a silvery sheen and it has a short crest on its head. When breeding, the heron has a black beak and bright orange legs, but these fade to grey after the breeding season.[2]
The lava heron stalks small crabs and fish slowly before quickly spearing and eating them. They have also been known to eat the flies that gather near cacti and occasionally smaller birds.[3]
These birds have little fear of humans. It has been noted they have flight behaviors, some of which may carry the purpose of territory defense/advertising.[4]
Lava herons are typically seen hunched over and they have a sharp alarm call (described as a scow sound).[4] During aggressive behavior they will use a skuk-skuk call.[4]
Unlike most herons, these birds nest in solitary pairs for one breeding season in either the lower branches of mangrove trees or under lava rocks.
[2][4] They can breed year-round, though typically from September to March, and can mate up to three times a year and have up to ten eggs each time.[2]
^Moran, Matthew D. (June 2010). "Predation by a Lava Heron (Butorides Striata Sundevalli) on a Small Ground Finch (Geospiza fuliginosa) in the Galapagos Islands". Waterbirds. 33 (2): 258–259. doi:10.1675/063.033.0216. ISSN1524-4695.
^ abcdKushlan, James A. (1983). "Pair Formation Behavior of the Galapagos Lava Heron". The Wilson Bulletin. 95 (1): 118–121. ISSN0043-5643. JSTOR4161721.
Resources
Heinzel, Hermann and Barnaby Hall. Galapagos Diary. Los Angeles; University of California Press, 2000.
