CreatureData

Western reef heron

Egretta gularis (Bosc, 1792)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The western reef heron (Egretta gularis) is a species in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes. Recorded adults weigh 312 g to 483 g and live up to 22.3 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Western reef heron (Egretta gularis)
Photo: Kaippally · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the western reef heron

Weight
312 g – 483 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
22.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
22.3 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
coastalsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
23 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
3 – 3.75src 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

Where does the western reef heron live?

Not recorded

What is the western reef heron?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also called the western reef egret, is a medium-sized heron found in Africa and parts of Asia, with vagrancy occurring in Europe and the Americas. It has a mainly coastal distribution and occurs in several plumage forms: a slaty-grey plumage which can only be confused with the rather uncommon dark morph of the little egret (Egretta garzetta); a white form which can look very similar to the little egret, although the reef heron's bill tends to be paler and larger; and a black form with a white throat, E. g. gularis, found in West Africa. There are also differences in size, structure and foraging behaviour. There have been suggestions that the species hybridizes with the little egret, and based on this, some authors treat schistacea and gularis as subspecies of Egretta garzetta. Works that consider the western reef heron as a valid species include the nominate gularis and schistacea as subspecies.

From the Wikipedia article “Western reef heron” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_reef_heron&oldid=1371021174), 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 western reef heron endangered?

The western reef heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. 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 western reef heron classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPelecaniformes
  5. familyArdeidae
  6. genusEgretta
  7. SpeciesEgretta gularis (Bosc, 1792)

Synonyms Ardea gularis, Demigretta gularis, Egretta garzetta gularis

Other names and names in other languages (64)
  • Reef heronEnglish
  • Western reef egretEnglish
  • Western reef-egretEnglish
  • Western reef-heronEnglish
  • WRHEEnglish
  • Westelike KusreierAfrikaans
  • بلشون الصخرArabic
  • الغرنوق الأسودArabic
  • بلشون الشعاب الغربيArabic
  • غرنوق الأسود الهنديArabic
  • Pescairet cenisosoAragonese
  • Рифова чаплаBulgarian
  • Herlegon jave gwennBreton
  • martinet dels escullsCatalan
  • volavka západníCzech
  • volavka přímořskáCzech
  • crëyr traethau gorllewinolWelsh
  • RevhejreDanish
  • Vestafrikansk RevhejreDanish
  • Vestlig RevhejreDanish
  • KüstenreiherGerman
  • ބޮޑު ރާބޮނދިDivehi
  • ΘαλασσοτσικνιάςGreek
  • Marborda egretardeoEsperanto
  • blankagorĝa egretardeoEsperanto
  • Garceta dimorfaSpanish
  • rand-siidhaigurEstonian
  • اگرت ساحلیPersian
  • riuttahaikaraFinnish
  • Aigrette des récifsFrench
  • Aigrette à gorge blancheFrench
  • Éigrit sceire iartharachIrish
  • לבנית ים-סוףHebrew
  • Crna čapljaCroatian
  • zátonykócsagHungarian
  • KóralhegriIcelandic
  • Airone schistaceoItalian
  • アフリカクロサギJapanese
  • ಕಡಲುತೀರದ ಬೆಳ್ಳಕ್ಕಿKannada
  • rifinis garnysLithuanian
  • vakarinis rifinis garnysLithuanian
  • തിരമുണ്ടിMalayalam
  • समुद्री बगळाMarathi
  • Westelijke rifreigerDutch
  • strandhegreNorwegian
  • czapla rafowaPolish
  • Garça-negraPortuguese
  • garça-dos-recifesPortuguese
  • garça-dos-recifes-ocidentalPortuguese
  • Garça-marinhaPortuguese
  • рифовая цапляRussian
  • береговая цапляRussian
  • Западная рифовая цапляRussian
  • AfrihkásilkeháigirNorthern Sami
  • volavka pobrežnáSlovak
  • obalna čapljaSlovenian
  • Mala crna čapljaSerbian
  • Мала црна чапљаSerbian
  • revhägerSwedish
  • கரைக் கொக்குTamil
  • kıyı balıkçılıTurkish
  • чапля рифоваUkrainian
  • 西岩鹭Chinese
  • 黃喉岩鷺Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the western reef heron

Other species in the same genus Egretta.

CompareWestern reef heron vs Little egretWestern reef heron vs Pacific reef heronWestern reef heron vs Snowy egretWestern reef heron vs Tricolored heron

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the western reef heron?

An adult western reef heron weighs 312 g – 483 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the western reef heron endangered?

The western reef heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the western reef heron live?

The western reef heron has a recorded lifespan of 22.3 years.

What kind of animal is the western reef heron?

The western reef heron (Egretta gularis) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Western reef heron (Egretta gularis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-reef-heron

MLA

“Western reef heron (Egretta gularis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-reef-heron.

BibTeX
@misc{western_reef_heron_2026,
  title = {Western reef heron (Egretta gularis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-reef-heron},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}