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Cocoi Heron | Ardea cocoi
Cocoireiger | Garza cuca
The Cocoi Heron is the large heron of South America, the counterpart of Great Blue and Grey Herons. In the region it is a regular but scarce visitor to Trinidad and Tobago, where birds from the nearby mainland of Venezuela and the Guianas turn up without breeding.
Voice
Usually silent. When disturbed a deep, harsh croak.
Recording: José María Loaiza B. — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
95–130 cm, a large, slender heron with a long neck and a heavy, dagger-shaped yellow bill. Adults have an all-black crown with a short crest, a white face and a white neck with a line of black streaks down the front. The back and wing coverts are pale grey, the flight feathers black. The breast and centre of the belly are white, the flanks and sides of the belly black, the thighs white. The iris and bill are yellow, the legs dark. Juveniles are duller and greyer, with a greyish neck, less black on the crown and belly and no plumes. In flight the white neck and the black belly sides stand out.
Confusion species
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias, also present in Trinidad and Tobago in the northern winter, has a grey to grey-brown neck, a white crown with only a black side stripe, rufous thighs and a mostly grey belly. Grey Heron Ardea cinerea, a rare vagrant, likewise has a white crown with a black side stripe and is smaller. Great Egret Ardea alba is entirely white.
Habitat
In the region mainly mangroves, tidal mudflats and open freshwater marshes and flooded savanna on Trinidad; also river banks. It hunts alone, standing or wading slowly in shallow water, for fish, crabs and other aquatic animals. In South America it breeds in colonies in trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Trinidad, among other places in Caroni Swamp and Nariva Swamp; in recent years also regularly on Tobago. Not recorded elsewhere in the region. Outside the region in almost all of South America east of the Andes, from Panama to southern Argentina and Chile.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The swamps of the west and east coasts of Trinidad are the most promising places, for instance on a boat trip through Caroni Swamp. Any large grey heron on Trinidad or Tobago deserves a check of the crown, neck and belly sides to separate Cocoi from Great Blue Heron.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a very large range in South America. In Trinidad and Tobago it depends on the protection of the large coastal wetlands.
Scientific name
Ardea cocoi | Linnaeus, 1766
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Ardea was introduced in 1758 by Linnaeus. Ardea is the Latin word for 'heron'. cocoi derives from an Amerindian name from Cayenne, Cocoi or Cuca, for this heron; its exact origin is uncertain. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.