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Western Reef-Heron

Egretta gularisOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)
Western Reef-Heron Portrait_2
  Splitbar
Range Map for Western Reef-Heron

Overview

Western Reef-Heron: This Old World species is exclusively coastal. There is a dark (shown here) and light morph. Dark morph is slate gray overall with white chin and throat. Legs are black with yellow feet. The light morph is white overall with two long narrow plumes on the back of the crown.

Range and Habitat

Western Reef-Heron: Found mainly on the coasts in tropical west Africa, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and east to India. The first record in North America was in Massachusetts in 1983. Since then it has been seen in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.

Splitbar

Listen:

Voice Text

"kawwwww"

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Family Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)_blue
Species Egretta gularis
Length22 - 26 Inches
Wingspan41.5 Inches

Western Reef-Heron

Western Reef-Heron: This Old World species is exclusively coastal. There is a dark (shown here) and light morph. Dark morph is slate gray overall with white chin and throat. Legs are black with yellow feet. The light morph is white overall with two long narrow plumes on the back of the crown.

● Song: "kawwwww"

● Foraging & Feeding: Western Reef-Heron: Stalks in a crouched position on shallow reefs and mudflats. Diet includes fish, frogs, mollusks, crustaceans, and mice. Does not spear food, but grasps with mandibles and swallows whole.

● Breeding & nesting: Western Reef-Heron: Two to five pale green to blue-white eggs are laid on an untidy platform of sticks built by both sexes, located in a tree, on a rock ledge, under shrubs, or on the ground. Eggs are incubated for 20-25 days by both sexes. Semialtricial young stay in nest about 30 days.

● Similar species: Western Reef-Heron: Little Blue Heron is slate blue overall, head and neck are dark purple, bill is gray with a black tip, legs and feet are dull yellow-green.

Flight Pattern

Slow direct flight with deep, rapid wing beats.
Western Reef-Heron Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Western Reef-Heron: Found mainly on the coasts in tropical west Africa, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and east to India. The first record in North America was in Massachusetts in 1983. Since then it has been seen in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationRare
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight14.1 Ounces