A critically endangered white-bellied heron has been spotted in the Kamlang Tiger Reserve in the Lohit district of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
A video shared by the official Twitter account of Kamlang Tiger Reserve on 12 February shows the heron perched on a rock as the camera zooms in. After a while, the bird flies away into the wilderness.
The white-bellied heron is mainly dark grey with a contrasting white throat, belly and vent, white-streaked scapulars, fore neck and upper breast.
Both females and males have two lace-like white plumes on the back of their neck.
As per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), herons are categorised as critically endangered owing to their extremely small and rapidly declining population. Their population is estimated to have declined further due to the loss and degradation of lowland forests and wetlands.