About the White-bellied Heron
The White-bellied Heron is one of the largest herons in the world — nearly as tall as a stork — and one of the least-known critically endangered birds in Asia. India likely holds a tiny fraction of the global population, concentrated in the pristine riverine forests of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The species requires large, undisturbed rivers with clear water and adjacent tall forest for nesting — a combination of habitat increasingly rare in the Northeast Indian landscape.
Almost everything known about White-bellied Heron ecology comes from camera trap footage and a handful of dedicated field observations over the past decade. The birds nest singly in giant trees above major rivers — the Kameng, Subansiri, and Dibang river corridors in Arunachal Pradesh being the most important Indian sites. Habitat loss from dam construction (particularly the proposed dam projects on Arunachal's rivers), riverine sand mining, and disturbance are the primary threats. The species has essentially disappeared from Bangladesh and Myanmar, making the northeast Indian population globally significant.