Species Details

@Fatema-Tuz-Zohora,Department of Zoology,Jagannath University Dhaka;

Masked Finfoot Did you see this animal?

Scientific Name : Heliopais personatus
Family : Heliornithidae
Order : Gruiformes
Class : Aves
Phylum : Chordata
Habitat : Mangrove forest
 
Description : The Masked Finfoot is a long waterfowl with a strong, yellow, dagger-like bill (adult bird length approximately 56 cm, wing 24 cm, bill 5 cm, tarsus 4.8 cm, tail 11 cm). It looks olive-brown from above and paler below. It has a white stripe on the side of the neck starting from behind the eyes. Bill is bright yellow with a brownish centre and legs and feet are pea-green. The male and the female differ in their mask; the entire forehead, throat and sides of the fore-neck of the male are black, but the female has white down to the centre of its throat and fore-neck. It feeds on mudskippers, small fishes, aquatic insects, molluscs and others invertebrates. It breeds in July-August.
 
Distribution in Bangladesh
References:
description written by:Fatema-Tuz-Zohora,Department of Zoology, Jagannath University,Dhaka;information source: Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh, Vol-26, iucnredlist.org;Photo credit and copyright:Fatema-Tuz-Zohora,Department of Zoology,Jagannath University Dhaka;taxonomic checklist:P. M. Thompson and S. U. Chowdhury (2020). A checklist of birds of Bangladesh.Birds Bangladesh;more information, please contact us.