Bourne's Heron
Encyclopedia
Bourne's Heron also known as the Cape Verde Heron, Cape Verde Purple Heron or Santiago Heron, or locally in Portuguese
as the garça vermelha, is an endangered subspecies
of the Purple Heron
that is endemic to the Cape Verde
archipelago
, in the Atlantic Ocean
off the coast of West Africa
. It is sometimes considered a full species, Ardea bournei.
, in the Ribeira Montagna village of Achada Banana, in a nesting colony in a single mahogany tree. The population contains about 40 adult birds, or 20 breeding pairs.
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
as the garça vermelha, is an endangered subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the Purple Heron
Purple Heron
The Purple Heron is a wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, breeding in Africa, central and southern Europe, and southern and eastern Asia. The European populations are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa; the more northerly Asian populations also migrate further south within Asia...
that is endemic to the Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
, in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
off the coast of West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. It is sometimes considered a full species, Ardea bournei.
Distribution
The only known breeding location of the heron is on Santiago IslandSantiago, Cape Verde
Santiago , or Santiagu in Cape Verdean Creole, is the largest island of Cape Verde, its most important agricultural centre and home to half the nation’s population. At the time of Darwin's voyage it was called St. Jago....
, in the Ribeira Montagna village of Achada Banana, in a nesting colony in a single mahogany tree. The population contains about 40 adult birds, or 20 breeding pairs.