Malayan Night Heron

The Malayan night heron is about 48 cm (19 in) long. The wingspan is about 86 cm (34 in). It is stocky, with a short beak. Its neck and breast are rufous. There are streaks going down the centre of the neck to the breast. The upperparts are chestnut and vermiculated. The flight feathers are blackish. The crown is black, the chin is white, and the eyes are yellow. The beak is black and the legs are greenish. The juvenile is greyish to rufous and is spotted and vermiculated. Males have been reported to have deeper blue lores and a longer crest compared to females during the breeding season. Males develop the dark blue lores 30–60 days prior to pair-bonding, while females had bluish-green lores when they first appeared in the breeding areas. Colours of the lores of both sexes faded as incubation progressed, with colours changing to bluish-green to green to greyish-green. If pairs laid a second clutch, the colouration of their lores were duller than the colouration during the first clutch.

The Malayan night heron has been found in India, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. It is a vagrant in Palau and Korea. Its range size is estimated at 1,240,000 km2. One roadkilled bird was discovered on Christmas Island, Australia where it is likely a vagrant. This bird occurs in forests, streams, and marshes. In Japan, population densities of the herons increased as undisturbed forest cover on islands increased.