White-faced heron
Egretta novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790)
The white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) is a species in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes. Recorded adults weigh 521 g to 599.1 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the white-faced heron
- Weight
- 521 g – 599.1 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.06 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 25 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.9 – 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the white-faced heron?
Photos of the white-faced heron
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1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.
Where does the white-faced heron 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 white-faced heron 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 white-faced heron?
The white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) also known as the white-fronted heron, and incorrectly as the grey heron, or blue crane, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, and all but the driest areas of Australia.
It is a medium-sized heron, pale, slightly bluish-grey, with yellow legs and white facial markings. It can be found almost anywhere near shallow water, fresh or salt, and although it is prompt to depart the scene on long, slow-beating wings if disturbed, it will boldly raid suburban fish ponds.
From the Wikipedia article “White-faced heron” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-faced_heron&oldid=1379920085), 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 white-faced heron endangered?
The white-faced 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 white-faced heron classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyArdeidae
- genusEgretta
- SpeciesEgretta novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790)
Synonyms Ardea novae, Ardea novaehollandiae, Ardea novaehollandiae novaehollandiae, Egretta novaehollandiae novaehollandiae, Egretta novaehollandiae parryi, Notophoyx novaehollandiae, Notophoyx novaehollandiae austera, Notophoyx novaehollandiae nana, Notophoyx novaehollandiae parryi
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- بلشون أبيض الوجهArabic
- Белолика чаплаBulgarian
- martinet carablancCatalan
- volavka bělolícíCzech
- crëyr wynebwynWelsh
- Hvidmasket HejreDanish
- WeißwangenreiherGerman
- blankmaska egretardeoEsperanto
- Garceta cariblancaSpanish
- valgepõsk-haigurEstonian
- valkonaamahaikaraFinnish
- Aigrette australienneFrench
- Aigrette à face blancheFrench
- Long CouFrench
- bjelolica čapljaCroatian
- fehérarcú gémHungarian
- Cangak australiaIndonesian
- Airone facciabiancaItalian
- Garzetta facciabiancaItalian
- カオジロサギJapanese
- garranygaykgs
- baltaskruostis garnysLithuanian
- MatukuMāori
- Matuku moanaMāori
- witwangreigerDutch
- hvitmaskehegreNorwegian
- czapla białolicaPolish
- garça-de-cara-brancaPortuguese
- garça-de-faces-brancasPortuguese
- Белолицая цапляRussian
- Белощёкая цапляRussian
- volavka bielolícaSlovak
- Belolika australijska čapljaSerbian
- vithuvad hägerSwedish
- motukuTongan
- Ak Yüzlü BalıkçılTurkish
- чепура австралійськаUkrainian
- 白脸鹭Chinese
- 白臉鷺Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the white-faced heron
Other species in the same genus Egretta.
Little egret
Egretta garzetta
Western reef heron
Egretta gularis
Pacific reef heron
Egretta sacra
Snowy egret
Egretta thula
Tricolored heron
Egretta tricolor
Black heron
Egretta ardesiaca
CompareWhite-faced heron vs Little egretWhite-faced heron vs Western reef heronWhite-faced heron vs Pacific reef heronWhite-faced heron vs Snowy egret
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the white-faced heron?
An adult white-faced heron weighs 521 g – 599.1 g and has a wingspan of 1.06 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the white-faced heron live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the white-faced heron for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the white-faced heron endangered?
The white-faced heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the white-faced heron?
The white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) 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).
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). White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-heron
“White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-heron.
@misc{white_faced_heron_2026,
title = {White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-heron},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}