OTHER NAMES: Great Egret, Common Egret, Large Egret
Latin Etymology: Ardea ("Heron") alba ("white")
Top: Adult Great White Egret (subspecies A. a. alba) at Summer Leys Reserve. March 2022
Bottom: Three Adult Great White Egret (subspecies A. a. modesta - Eastern Great Egret) at Sungeih Buloh, Singapore - February 2019
Featured Subspecies: Ardea alba alba & Ardea alba modesta
Weight: 700-1500g / Length: 80-104cm / Wingspan: 131-170cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern
The great white egret in far far rarer than the increasingly common little egret, but it too is potentially becoming more common. It winters in the UK in very small numbers. It can easily be distinguished from the little egret by being far larger - more on the size of a Grey Heron - and having a large, dagger like yellow beak. This is probably a bird where in most places, you will have to specifically look for sightings of one to find it, although Pitsford reservoir has a small number of these birds Wintering seemingly annually now, making it a prime location to see them. It is nonetheless a very widely distributed species globally, found on every continent except Antarctica and found in nearly any habitat where there is non-frozen water for it to feed in.
Related species:
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Subspecies: A. a. alba, A. a. egretta, A. a. melanorhynchos, A. a. modesta
- Sighting Locations -
UNITED KINGDOM - A rare Winter migrant (35 individuals) and regular vagrant.
- A regular at Pitsford Reservoir in Winter, seen in multiple years.
Locally common resident
- KYOTO/OSAKA 2013 TRIP: A single bird at Kyoto.
SINGAPORE - An locally common resident.
UNITED STATES
Resident on most of the Coastal areas, winters throughout
- CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Berkeley
Resident on most of the Coastal areas, winters throughout
- CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Berkeley
Two nice ones there Alex - dipped both several times last year - hoping for better this year.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Davo