Great-billed Heron

Landing......Landed! Rather ungraceful for a heron though..thought all Herons land gracefully....heheh

Well, my 1st day at Ubin and I had the honour of being brought to Chek Jawa for a look-see. Actually, me & my fellow ranger Mark Lim(ubin chief) went there to check out the place for any intruders when we chanced upon a group of visitors sitting on the rocks looking out to sea and enjoying the evening breeze. So we went over the seaweeds & rocks(me half slipping & half crawling my way through...thank god I didn't land on my bum, sure to be embrassing, ranger somemore!) and had a chat with them when suddenly someone shouted " big bird, big bird", I immediately looked at his direction, half expecting "Big Bird" from Sesame Street to appear when I saw this Heron flying past. All words were shut out(Mike was actually explaining to us what this bird was) and everyone suddenly stood up and cameras(3 Nikons & 1 Canon) went flashing! Luckily this Heron was quite far away or else the flashes would have blinded it and it would have landed even more ungraciously!

I understand from my bird Guru that this bird is an endangered bird...can anyone verify this?

Anyway, this is what little information that I have:
Habitat: Mangroves, islets, undisturbed beaches(Singapore where got undisturbed beaches??), sometimes upstream along large rivers. Normally solitary or in pairs.
Voice: Loud harsh croaks(frog???). Unnerving loud deep guttural roars during breeding season(reminds me of Tigers)...