HEMATOLOGY OF CAPTIVE HERONS, EGRETS, SPOONBILL, IBIS AND GALLINULE

Analyses of blood chemical parameters were carried out in 48 night her ons (Nycticorax nycticorax), 10 purple gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio) , four purple heron (Ardea purpurea), 28 little egret (Egretta garzett a), 16 cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), 24 spoonbills (Platalea leucorodi a) and 12 glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). The following parameters were determined: packed cell volume, haemoglobin concentration, red b lood cell number, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular volume, me an corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration , erythrocyte dimensions, leukocyte number and differential leukocyte count. Some statistically significant differences were observed betwee n the age groups and some similarities with other related birds were o bserved.