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Great-billed Heron (Ardea sumatrana) Alternate name(s): "Alligatorbird" Size: 1.0-1.1 m Body mass: up to 2.6 kg

Australia: Family Group 5 Family Group 5 Table Great Egret Plumed Egret Eastern Cattle Egret Little Egret Eastern Reef Egret Great-billed Heron White-faced Heron White-necked Heron Pied Heron Rufous Night Heron Little (formerly Striated) Heron Black Bittern Australian Little Bittern Australasian Bittern Royal Spoonbill Yellow-billed Spoonbill Australian White Ibis Straw-necked Ibis Glossy Ibis Black-necked Stork Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Great-billed Herons are the tallest Australian herons. In eclipse, their plumage is all grey, with the front (throat, neck, breast, belly, vent) a lighter shade of grey than the back (crown, wings and mantle). During the breeding season, Great-billed Herons have a nuchal crest, long, spiky hackles on the foreneck and spiky ("lanceolate") plumes on their back. They have a very large dark-grey bill and grey legs and feet. Juveniles are all-brown, rather than grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Great-billed Heron at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Great-billed Heron is available HERE . Great-billed Herons are found in South-east Asia (southern Malaysia and Thailand, the southern Philippines, Indonesia), New Guinea and northern Australia. In Australia Great-billed Herons populate the entire North coast of the continent, from King Sound near Derby, WA, via the Top End of the NT and the South coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, along Cape York peninsula and down the QLD East coast to about the tropic of Capricorn, near Yeppoon, QLD. Great-billed Herons have a preference for intertidal wetlands, including mangrove-lined estuaries and tidal channels, with mudflats.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting a Great-billed Heron at Buffalo Creek, Darwin, NT, in August 2013. H. Mouritsen spotted a Great-billed Heron at Yellow Water, Kakadu NP, NT, in October 2015. M. Eaton reports finding a Great-billed Heron on the Daintree River, QLD, in July 2018 and again in December 2018. P. Brown found a Great-billed Heron at Yellow Water, Kakadu NP, NT, in November 2020, and another at the Leanyer Sewage Ponds, Darwin, NT, in July 2021. J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours reports spotting Grey-billed Herons on various occasions along the Daintree River, QLD.

Photos

ADULT

BREEDING

Sex unknown

Near-frontal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage, upright stance (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2018]

Near-frontal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Leanyer Sewage Ponds, Darwin, NT, July 2021]

Near-frontal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage, hunched (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2018]

Close-up lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, May 2020]

Close-up lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage shaking itself (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, May 2020]

Lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage "strutting its stuff" (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, December 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2018]

Close-up dorsal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage looking sideways
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, May 2020]

Dorsal view of a Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Close-up lateral portrait of a Great-billed Heron in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, May 2020]

Close-up lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, July 2024]

Lateral view of a Great-billed Heron in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Kakadu NP, NT, October 2015]

Near-dorsal view of a Great-billed Heron in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Kakadu NP, NT, November 2020]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Great-billed Heron in non-breeding plumage on the point of take-off
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, May 2020]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jan - Dec

Eggs: 2

Incubation period: ca. 60 days

Fledging age: ca. 66 days

The breeding season of the Great-billed Heron in Australia is not well-known. They can probably breed year round, after monsoonal rain. geographical latitude. The period listed in the table above refers to the East of Australia. In the tropical North the breeding season is usually from December to March.

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks, leaves

Height above ground: ?

Nest building: ?

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Great-billed Herons tend to nest in remote locations in mangroves in tidal mudflats. Nests tend to be large (more than 1 m in diameter).

Close-up frontal view of a Great-billed Heron on its nest on a major horizontal fork in a mangrove
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, February 2023]

Close-up near-lateral view of a Great-billed Heron on its nest (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, February 2023]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 70 x 50 mm

Colour: Light bluish-green

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Solitary

Great-billed Herons are often found in mudflats in intertidal wetlands dominated by mangroves (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Leanyer Sewage Ponds, Darwin, NT, July 2021]

Food, Diet

Great-billed Heron in breeding plumage taking its prey, which looks like a mud crab (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Buffalo Creek, Darwin, NT, August 2013]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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