Purple heron
Ardea purpurea Linnaeus, 1766
The purple heron (Ardea purpurea) is a bird in the family Ardeidae and the order Pelecaniformes. It is a medium-sized, migratory wetland bird with an adult body mass of 1.064 kg and a wingspan of 1.35 m.
.jpg){kind=link}
Quick facts about the purple heron
The purple heron is a carnivore classed as an aquatic predator, with a terrestrial lifestyle and a geographic range of 34,920,000 km². It lays one clutch per year with 4.2 eggs as the representative value, incubates them for 26 days, and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 830 g – 1.06 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.35 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 25.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 25.4 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 26 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4 – 4.2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 18 months – 2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the purple heron?
Photos of the purple heron
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
_im_Flug_-_NSG_Wagbachniederung_1.jpg){kind=link}
_im_Flug_-_NSG_Wagbachniederung_2.jpg){kind=link}
Where does the purple heron live?
Not recorded
What is the purple heron?
The purple heron (Ardea purpurea) is a wide-ranging heron species. It breeds in Africa, central and southern Europe, and southern and eastern Palearctic. The Western Palearctic populations migrate between breeding and wintering habitats whereas the African and tropical-Asian populations are primarily sedentary, except for occasional dispersive movements.
It is similar in appearance to the more common grey heron but is slightly smaller, more slender and has darker plumage. It is also a more evasive bird, favouring densely vegetated habitats near water, particularly reed beds. It hunts for a range of prey including fish, rodents, frogs and insects, either stalking them or standing waiting in ambush.
Purple herons are colonial breeders and build a bulky nest out of dead reeds or sticks close to the water' edge among reeds or in dense vegetation. About five bluish-green eggs are laid and are incubated by both birds. The young hatch about four weeks later and fledge six weeks after that. The International Union for Conservation of Nature notes that the global population trend is downwards, largely because of the drainage of wetlands, but assesses the purple heron's conservation status as being of "least concern".
From the Wikipedia article “Purple heron” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purple_heron&oldid=1369640168), 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 purple heron sound like?
Is the purple heron endangered?
The purple heron 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 purple heron classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyArdeidae
- genusArdea
- SpeciesArdea purpurea Linnaeus, 1766
Synonyms Phoyx purpurea
Other names and names in other languages (116)
- RooireierAfrikaans
- بلشون أرجوانيArabic
- البلشون الأرجوانيArabic
- بلشون ارجوانيArabic
- Garra royencaAragonese
- garcia bermeyaAsturian
- Kürən vağAzerbaijani
- Чапля чырвонаяBelarusian
- Чырвоная чапляBelarusian
- Ръждива чаплаBulgarian
- Червена чаплаBulgarian
- Kerc'heiz rousBreton
- agró roigCatalan
- dugwakCebuano
- volavka červenáCzech
- crëyr porfforWelsh
- Crehyrod PorfforWelsh
- PurpurhejreDanish
- PurpurreiherGerman
- ΠορφυροτσικνιάςGreek
- Πορφυρός ΨαροφάςGreek
- purpura ardeoEsperanto
- Garza imperialSpanish
- purpurhaigurEstonian
- Lertxun gorriBasque
- حواصیل ارغوانیPersian
- ruskohaikaraFinnish
- KorkahegriFaroese
- Héron pourpréFrench
- Reade ReagerWestern Frisian
- Corr chorcraIrish
- Garza vermellaGalician
- Coar ghorrym-jiargManx
- Crvena čaplja - црвена чапљаSerbian (Latin)
- Crvena čaplja / црвена чапљаSerbian (Latin)
- אנפה ארגמניתHebrew
- Peria vellai kokkuHindi
- Caplja DangubaCroatian
- čaplja dangubaCroatian
- vörös gémHungarian
- Տառեղ շիկակարմիրArmenian
- Cangak merahIndonesian
- RauðhegriIcelandic
- Rau?hegriIcelandic
- airone rossoItalian
- ムラサキサギJapanese
- murasakisagiJapanese
- წითური ყანჩაGeorgian
- ПсыхэуэцыплъKabardian
- Жирен құтанKazakh
- Қошқыл құтанKazakh
- ಕೆನ್ನೀಲಿ ಬಕKannada
- 붉은왜가리Korean
- Şaqaviyê gerdenmarKurdish
- Samunkoma Gomugehakwn
- PurpurreeërLuxembourgish
- purpurinis garnysLithuanian
- rudais gārnisLatvian
- DangoroMalagasy
- KehambeMalagasy
- Vagna piratsyMalagasy
- VanomenaMalagasy
- ДрајкаMacedonian
- црвена чапјаMacedonian
- ചായമുണ്ടിMalayalam
- Russett AħmarMaltese
- Зээрд дэглийMongolian
- Korong ulamqj
- जांभळा बगळाMarathi
- Burung Bangau PayaMalay
- ငဟစ်ငှက်Burmese
- ध्यानी बकुल्लाNepali
- purperreigerDutch
- purpurhegreNorwegian
- czapla purpurowaPolish
- جامنی ہیرونWestern Panjabi
- garça-vermelhaPortuguese
- Garça-RoxaPortuguese
- irun cotschenRomansh
- stârc roşuRomanian
- Stârc roșuRomanian
- Цапля рыжаяRussian
- рыжая цапляRussian
- Червена чапляRusyn
- PurporháigirNorthern Sami
- කරවැල් කොකාSinhala
- volavka purpurováSlovak
- Rjava capljaSlovenian
- rjava čapljaSlovenian
- KokolofitoeSouthern Sotho
- Çapka rrudhiAlbanian
- çafka e kuqerremeAlbanian
- çapka e rrushitAlbanian
- Црвена цаплјаSerbian
- Црвена чапљаSerbian
- Црвена чапља - Crvena čapljaSerbian
- Crvena čapljaSerbian
- purpurhägerSwedish
- PondagundiSwahili
- செந்நாரைTamil
- ஜம்பு நாரைTamil
- นกกระสาแดงThai
- erguvani balikcilTurkish
- erguvani balıkçılTurkish
- seNgwepeTswana
- KôkôlôhutwêTswana
- RikolwaTsonga
- كۆك قۇتانUyghur
- Руда чапляUkrainian
- Чапля рудаUkrainian
- Diệc lửaVietnamese
- UcofuzaXhosa
- 紫鷺Chinese
- 紫鷺〔草鷺〕Chinese
- 草鷺Chinese
- 草鹭Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the purple heron
Other species in the same genus Ardea.
Grey heron
Ardea cinerea
Great egret
Ardea alba
Western cattle egret
Ardea ibis
Goliath heron
Ardea goliath
Great blue heron
Ardea herodias
Medium egret
Ardea intermedia
ComparePurple heron vs Grey heronPurple heron vs Great egretPurple heron vs Western cattle egretPurple heron vs Goliath heron
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is a purple heron?
The purple heron has an adult body mass of 1.064 kg, with a lowest reported value of 830 g. Its wingspan is 1.35 m.
What does the purple heron eat?
The purple heron is a carnivore classed as an aquatic predator.
What habitat does the purple heron live in?
The purple heron lives in wetland habitat and has a terrestrial lifestyle.
Is the purple heron endangered?
No. The purple heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a purple heron live?
The purple heron has a lifespan of up to 25.42 years.
How many eggs does a purple heron lay?
The purple heron lays one clutch per year, with 4.2 eggs as the representative clutch size and 4 as the lowest reported value. Incubation lasts 26 days.
Does the purple heron migrate?
Yes. The purple heron is a migratory bird.
Who named the purple heron?
The purple heron, Ardea purpurea, was named by Linnaeus, 1766.
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). Purple heron (Ardea purpurea). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-heron
“Purple heron (Ardea purpurea).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-heron.
@misc{purple_heron_2026,
title = {Purple heron (Ardea purpurea)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-heron},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}