White-eared Night heron reported from Southwest Hainan

[Hainan]

The newspappers this morning reported about a supposed sighting of an adult white-eared night heron on Southwest Hainan, no specific locality mentioned but a group of experienced birders was those that has made the report, which is the odds that it really was an white-eared? I mean Hainan do after all harbour at least 3 kinds of night-heron so a missidentification is possible and the species havent been reported from this island since the late 1960 + the nature destruction has been very intensive here, so what do everyone think, is it possible that the white-eared night heron survive on Hainan, after all alarms about its supposed extinction here?

[Hidde Bruinsma]

Hi Hainan and welcome to the Birdforum,

Yes, it makes perfect sense that this magnificent bird still survives on your island. Even if it had become extinct on Hainan it could have recolonised from nearby populations in Guangxi and (probably) northern Vietnam. It's a very secretive and little known species and there is still some forest left on Hainan with all the other endemic birds suviving. So, it's quite plausible that the bird never really became extinct there.

[James Eaton]

Hi Hainan,

Agree with Hidde's comments, it is feasible that this species still survives on Hainan. Blyth's Kingfisher has recently been rediscovered on the island after a 20 year gap in sightings. Having read about a population of the WENH in Guandong, they can still survive in degraded habitat with populated waterways to a point, though this population appears to have died off in the 2 years, presumably because of these effects (and widening of the river they fed on).
Small populations of this species have recently been discovered on mainland China and in north Vietnam, so hopefully it is possible for them to survive on Hainan.

Another reason for a visit to Hainan for me!

[Hainan]

Thanks to you both.

Then there is finally a chance for me to see this rare bird, I have thought that it was extinct here for decades and have never searched specific after it, a visit to the southwest seems needed :cool:

[cuckooroller]

The closest I will get to it is in a photo I am sure.

[egret3]

beautiful..tks for sharing that picture
I so appreciate it

Egret3