Great egret

For the short story by Sarah Orne Jewett, see A White Heron. For the eastern populations of this species, see eastern great egret.
Not to be confused with the all-white population of the great blue heron.

Great egret
Great egret in full breeding plumage
Non-breeding plumage
  • Great Egret call in Somme, France
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Species:
A. alba
Binomial name
Ardea alba
  Breeding
  Resident
  Non-breeding
  Passage
  Vagrant (seasonality uncertain)
Synonyms
  • Herodias egretta Boie, 1822
  • Casmerodius egretta Gloger, 1842
  • Casmerodius albus Oberholser, 1919
  • Egretta alba (Cramp and Simmons, 1977)

The great egret (Ardea alba), also known as the common egret, large egret, great white egret, or great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Recently, it has also been spreading to more northern areas of Europe. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, it builds tree nests in colonies close to water.

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