Snowy egret
Egretta thula (Molina, 1782)
The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a species in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes. Recorded adults weigh 370 g to 371 g and live up to 20.2 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the snowy egret
- Weight
- 371 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 84 cm – 91 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 20.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 22.8 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 18 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.2 – 3.64src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src 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
- Not recorded
How big is the snowy egret?
Photos of the snowy egret
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the snowy egret live?
Not recorded
What is the snowy egret?
The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, which is a diminutive of aigron, 'heron'. The species name thula is the Mapudungun term for the black-necked swan, applied to this species in error by Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782.
The snowy egret is the American counterpart to the very similar Old World little egret, which has become established in the Bahamas. At one time, the plumes of the snowy egret were in great demand as decorations for women's hats. They were hunted for these plumes and this reduced the population of the species to dangerously low levels. Now protected in the United States by law, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, this bird's population has rebounded.
From the Wikipedia article “Snowy egret” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snowy_egret&oldid=1380782210), 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.
Is the snowy egret endangered?
The snowy 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. What the categories mean.
How is the snowy egret classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyArdeidae
- genusEgretta
- SpeciesEgretta thula (Molina, 1782)
Synonyms Ardea aequinoctialis, Ardea candidissima, Ardea thula, Egretta candidissima, Florida thula, Leucophoyx thula
Other names and names in other languages (77)
- EgretEnglish
- SnowyEnglish
- Snowy heronEnglish
- SneeuwitreierAfrikaans
- بلشون ثلجيArabic
- مالك الحزينArabic
- بلشون ثلجىEgyptian Arabic
- Белая амерыканская чапляBelarusian
- Снежна чаплаBulgarian
- martinet blanc americàCatalan
- volavka bělostnáCzech
- crëyr eirwynWelsh
- SnehejreDanish
- SchmuckreiherGerman
- Αμερικανικός ΛευκοτσικνιάςGreek
- Blanka egretoEsperanto
- neĝa egretardeoEsperanto
- ChusmitaSpanish
- garceta blancaSpanish
- garceta de pie doradoSpanish
- Garceta níveaSpanish
- Garceta nivosaSpanish
- Garceta pie-doradoSpanish
- Garcita blancaSpanish
- Garza blancaSpanish
- Garza blanca chicaSpanish
- garza chicaSpanish
- Garza ChusmitaSpanish
- Garza de RizosSpanish
- Garza dedos doradosSpanish
- Garza patiamarillaSpanish
- ameerika siidhaigurEstonian
- Elur-koartzatxoBasque
- قار برفیPersian
- lumihaikaraFinnish
- Aigrette neigeuseFrench
- Éigrit shneachtúilIrish
- Coar-vane niaghtaghManx
- ItaipyteGuarani
- לבנית אמריקניתHebrew
- אנפית השלגHebrew
- snježna čapljaCroatian
- hókócsagHungarian
- Kuntul SaljuIndonesian
- LjómahegriIcelandic
- Garzetta niveaItalian
- ユキコサギJapanese
- snieginis garnysLithuanian
- sniega gārnisLatvian
- Toohjįʼ ndiigaiiNavajo
- Amerikaanse kleine zilverreigerDutch
- snøhegreNorwegian
- Garza BlancuPapiamento
- Garsa Blanco ChikitoPapiamento
- Garsa Blanku ChikíPapiamento
- czapla śnieżnaPolish
- برفی بگلاWestern Panjabi
- garça-branca-americanaPortuguese
- Garça-branca-pequenaPortuguese
- Yuraq waqarQuechua
- Снежная цапляRussian
- белая американская цапляRussian
- MuohtaháigirNorthern Sami
- volavka žltoprstáSlovak
- snežna čapljaSlovenian
- снежна чапљаSerbian
- Снежна чапља - Snežna čapljaSerbian
- snöhägerSwedish
- ak balıkçılTurkish
- Karbeyaz BalıkçılTurkish
- Süt beyazı balıkçılTurkish
- Сніжна чапляUkrainian
- Чепура сніжнаUkrainian
- чепура американськаUkrainian
- Cò tuyếtVietnamese
- 雪鷺Chinese
- 雪鹭Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the snowy egret
Other species in the same genus Egretta.
Little egret
Egretta garzetta
Western reef heron
Egretta gularis
Pacific reef heron
Egretta sacra
Tricolored heron
Egretta tricolor
Black heron
Egretta ardesiaca
Little blue heron
Egretta caerulea
CompareSnowy egret vs Little egretSnowy egret vs Western reef heronSnowy egret vs Pacific reef heronSnowy egret vs Tricolored heron
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the snowy egret?
An adult snowy egret weighs 371 g and has a wingspan of 84 cm – 91 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the snowy egret endangered?
The snowy egret is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the snowy egret live?
The snowy egret has a recorded lifespan of 20.2 years.
What kind of animal is the snowy egret?
The snowy egret (Egretta thula) belongs to the family Ardeidae in the order Pelecaniformes.
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).
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CreatureData. (2026). Snowy egret (Egretta thula). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowy-egret
“Snowy egret (Egretta thula).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowy-egret.
@misc{snowy_egret_2026,
title = {Snowy egret (Egretta thula)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/snowy-egret},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}