#1162 · 🐦 birds

Western Reef Heron

🇳🇱 Westelijke Rifreiger ·Egretta gularis

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The western reef heron ( Egretta gularis ), also called the western reef egret , is a medium-sized heron found in southern Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It has a mainly coastal distribution and occurs in several plumage forms: a slaty-grey plumage in which it 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 bill tends to...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 5,121iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
5,121 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1792 (234 years ago).