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5

Great [White] Egret

(Ardea alba)
Alternate name(s): "Egret*", "Large Egret", "White Egret", "Eastern Great Egret", "White Crane*"
Size: 0.85-1.05 m; wing span 1.45-1.70 m
Weight: 0.7-1.5 kg (1.0 kg average)

Similar
species

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

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Great Egret at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

Race "alba"

ADULT

Sex unknown

NON-BREEDING

Distant frontal view of a Great [White] Egret (back left) and a Little Egret (front right)
[Qurm, December 2009]

Lateral view of a Great [White] Egret in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of S. Kirkby)

Race "modesta"

Photos of race "modesta" were obtained in Australia.

Food, Diet

All egrets and herons prey on aquatic creatures in fresh water or estuaries (fish, frogs, snakes or crustaceans). Great [White] Egrets will take any of those.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

We will try to replace this poor recording with a better one as soon as possible.

gregret_20220509.m4a (NW NSW) Suspicious/foraging at break of dawn © MD
gregret_20190722.m4a (NW NSW) Alarm call (human) © MD
gregret_20170626.m4a (NW NSW) ? (arrival) © MD
gregret_20210302.m4a (NW NSW) ? (in breeding colony) © MD
gregret_20230222.mp3 (NW NSW) ? (in-flight; + Little Corella) © MD

More Great (White) Egret sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.