Great egret
Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758
The great egret (Ardea alba) is a bird in the family Ardeidae and the order Pelecaniformes, also called the Large egret, American egret, Great white heron, Great white egret and Western great egret. It is a small bird by our size classification, with an adult body mass of 871.3 g (812 to 935 g reported) and a wingspan of 1.44 m.
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Quick facts about the great egret
The great egret is a carnivorous aquatic predator of wetland habitats that forages terrestrially and is partially migratory. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, not an IUCN threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.
- Weight
- 812 g – 935 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.44 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 22.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 22.8 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 24.7 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.7src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 20.9 months – 2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the great egret?
Photos of the great egret
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the great egret live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The great egret is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the great egret?
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 occur 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Great egret” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_egret&oldid=1384823864), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the great egret sound like?
Is the great egret endangered?
The great egret is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the great egret classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyArdeidae
- genusArdea
- SpeciesArdea alba Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Ardea alba, Ardea alba, Ardea alpina, Ardea modesta modesta, Casmerodius albus, Casmerodius albus subsp. albus, Egretta alba, Egretta alba, Egretta alba, Egretta alba, Egretta alba, Egretta alba alba
Other names and names in other languages (113)
- American egretEnglish
- Great white egretEnglish
- Great white egretEnglish
- Great white heronEnglish
- Large egretEnglish
- Western great egretEnglish
- GrootwitreierAfrikaans
- بلشون ابيض كبيرArabic
- البلشون الأبيض الكبيرArabic
- İri ağ vağAzerbaijani
- Чапля вялікая белаяBelarusian
- Вялiкая белая чапляBelarusian
- Голяма бяла чаплаBulgarian
- Herlegon brasBreton
- agró blancCatalan
- volavka bíláCzech
- crëyr mawr gwynWelsh
- Crehyrod Mawr GwynWelsh
- Crёyr Mawr GwynWelsh
- sølvhejreDanish
- SilberreiherGerman
- LagnaaDivehi
- Slobrowita šytawaLower Sorbian
- ΑργυροτσικνιάςGreek
- blanka ardeoEsperanto
- Granda egretardeoEsperanto
- Garza blancaSpanish
- Garceta grandeSpanish
- hõbehaigurEstonian
- اگرت بزرگPersian
- jalohaikaraFinnish
- silvurhegriFaroese
- Héron aigretteFrench
- Grande AigretteFrench
- Grutte Wite ReagerWestern Frisian
- Éigrit MhórIrish
- Corra-bhànScottish Gaelic
- Garza brancaGalician
- Coar-vane vooarManx
- GuyratîGuarani
- Gwo krabye blanchHaitian Creole
- אנפה לבנהHebrew
- לבנית גדולהHebrew
- ChennaraiHindi
- velika bijela čapljaCroatian
- Běła čaplaUpper Sorbian
- nagy kócsagHungarian
- Տառեղ մեծ սպիտակArmenian
- Cangak besarIndonesian
- Kuntul besarIndonesian
- MjallhegriIcelandic
- Airone bianco maggioreItalian
- ダイサギJapanese
- დიდი ოყარიGeorgian
- თეთრი ყანჩაGeorgian
- ПсыхэуэхужьKabardian
- Үлкен аққұтанKazakh
- 대백로Korean
- Şaqaviyê spî yê mezinKurdish
- didysis baltasis garnysLithuanian
- baltais gārnisLatvian
- lielais baltais gārnisLatvian
- domoinaMalagasy
- VanofotsibeMalagasy
- KōtukuMāori
- голема бела чапјаMacedonian
- പെരുമുണ്ടിMalayalam
- Russett AbjadMaltese
- Цасч дэглийMongolian
- Burung Bangau BesarMalay
- Toohjįʼ ndiigaiitsohNavajo
- egretthegreNorwegian Bokmål
- grote zilverreigerDutch
- TagakPampanga
- Garza BlancuPapiamento
- Garsa Blanco GrandiPapiamento
- Garsa Blanku GrandiPapiamento
- czapla białaPolish
- Egretta albaPiedmontese
- garça-brancaPortuguese
- garça-branca-grandePortuguese
- Hatun waqarQuechua
- Irun alvRomansh
- Egretă mareRomanian
- Большая белая цапляRussian
- Біла чапляRusyn
- JievjaháigirNorthern Sami
- beluša veľkáSlovak
- velika bela čapljaSlovenian
- SvorechenaShona
- LeholosianeSouthern Sotho
- çapkëbardha e madheAlbanian
- çafka e bardhë e madheAlbanian
- çajma e bardhë e madheAlbanian
- Çapka e madhe e bardhëAlbanian
- gata e bardhë e madheAlbanian
- gatëza e bardhë e madheAlbanian
- Велика бела чапљаSerbian
- ägretthägerSwedish
- MsukaSwahili
- பெரிய கொக்குTamil
- Aq balıq çilTatar
- นกยางโทนใหญ่Thai
- buyuk ak balikcilTurkish
- büyük ak balıkçılTurkish
- ТуленTuvinian
- Ак коонгукTuvinian
- Чепура великаUkrainian
- Велика біла чапляUkrainian
- Cò ngàng lớnVietnamese
- 大白鷺Chinese
- 大白鹭Chinese
- iLandaZulu
Relatives of the great egret
Other species in the same genus Ardea.
Grey heron
Ardea cinerea
Western cattle egret
Ardea ibis
Purple heron
Ardea purpurea
Goliath heron
Ardea goliath
Great blue heron
Ardea herodias
Medium egret
Ardea intermedia
CompareGreat egret vs Grey heronGreat egret vs Western cattle egretGreat egret vs Purple heronGreat egret vs Goliath heron
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the great egret?
The great egret is a bird in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes. Its scientific name is Ardea alba.
How heavy is a great egret?
An adult Great egret has a body mass of 871.3 g, with reported values from 812 to 935 g. Its wingspan is 1.44 m.
What does the great egret eat?
The great egret is a carnivorous aquatic predator. It lives in wetland habitats.
Is the great egret endangered?
No. The great egret is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
How long does a great egret live?
The great egret lives up to 22.8 years according to our sources.
How many eggs does the great egret lay?
The great egret lays 3.7 eggs per clutch and has 1.5 clutches per year. Incubation lasts 24.7 days.
Which countries is the great egret recorded in?
Checklists record the great egret in Australia. Its geographic range covers 74.9 million km².
Who named the great egret?
The great egret was named Ardea alba by Linnaeus, 1758.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Great egret (Ardea alba). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-egret
“Great egret (Ardea alba).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-egret.
@misc{great_egret_2026,
title = {Great egret (Ardea alba)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-egret},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}