Great Egret

Ardea alba

The great egret, also known as the common egret, large egret, great white egret, or great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Recently, it has also been spreading to more northern areas of Europe. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, it builds tree nests in colonies close to water. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 33,759 times across 121 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 24°C (typically 20 to 28°C, from 21 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 15°N in December to 40°N in August, about 2,900 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.