Masked Finfoot
Heliopais personatus (Gray, GR, 1849)
Heliornithidae — Finfoots
Masked Finfoot, Heliopais personatus, is a bird of the Oriental Region, breeding in north-east India and south-east Asia and appearing rarely in Sumatra and Borneo outside the breeding season. It belongs to the finfoot family and was described by Gray in 1849. It lives in fresh to brackish wetlands, including forest, wooded savannah, flooded forest and mangrove swamps. Its most distinctive feature is the black facial mask and eyebrow set against a white eyering and neck stripe. The species also has a long neck, a sharp bill and green lobed feet, with males and females differing in chin colour.
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Heliornithidae — Finfoots
- Breeding range
- Oriental Region: ne India and se Asia
- Nonbreeding range
- rare to Sumatra and Borneo
