General

Malayan Night-Heron: Small, stocky heron with elongated black crest, red-brown head and neck, blue-gray around eye, brown back and wings, gray to white throat Gray underparts, and thick, black-brown streak on throat. Fine black mottling on back and belly. Short black bill with blue-gray base. Broad wings with thick black stripe. Short, square-tipped tail. Fairly short, green-yellow legs and feet. Feeds on snails, earthworms, frogs, and other small animals that it picks out of wet soil in marshy areas.

Breeding and Nesting

Malayan Night-Heron: Two to five pale green-white eggs are laid in a small platform nest constructed with sticks and lined with some leaves and grass. The nest is built 15 to 30 feet high in a tree and concealed by dense foliage. Incubation is carried out by both sexes for about 25 days. This heron species nests alone and in small colonies.

Foraging and Feeding

Malayan Night-Heron: Feeds on worms, snails, insects, and other small animals along forested streams and in wetlands near forest. It forages by carefully walking through a wetland or along a stream and snatching food items from the moist ground.

Vocalization

Malayan Night-Heron: Flight call is “arh, arh, arh” and standard call is a low-pitched "kwok." Song is a deep, mournful series of notes, given as "wu, wu, wu” or “thuk, thuk, thuk, thuk” notes.