Migratory bird (spring: March – April, autumn: end of August – October) in Akamas peninsula, with a small number breeding in a few locations on the island. Part of the population of the species that overwinters in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and along the Nile river valley up to its estuary at the Mediterranean sea, migrates mainly to Europe and parts of western Asia where it breeds.

It often moves at night, in small groups, with its characteristic call ‘Kvak’ heard while in flight. It’s mostly using the sea and the shoreline to migrate, but it can rest along the shoreline mostly at places with big trees or estuaries with dense cover.

Medium sized stocky heron with a rather short beak, black on the back, neck and crown, greyish body, red eye, black beak and yellowish legs (the adult).