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Western cattle egrets waiting for scraps at the fish market of Victoria, Seychelles. A conspicuous species, the cattle egret has attracted many common names. These mostly relate to its habit of following cattle and other large animals, and it is known variously as cow crane, cow bird or cow heron, or even elephant bird or rhinoceros egret. [16]
Many egrets are members of the genera Egretta or Ardea, which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word aigrette that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the ...
Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 74 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus Botaurus are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron , or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus Zebrilus , form a ...
The cattle egret (formerly genus Bubulcus) is a cosmopolitan clade of heron (family Ardeidae) in the genus Ardea found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm-temperate zones. . According to the IOC bird list, it contains two species, the western cattle egret and the eastern cattle egret, although some authorities regard them as a single spe
Syrigma Ridgway, 1878 – whistling heron: whistling heron, Syrigma sibilatrix; Egretta T. Forster, 1817 – typical egrets: Pied heron, Egretta picata; White-faced heron, Egretta novaehollandiae; Reddish egret, Egretta rufescens; Black heron, Egretta ardesiaca; Slaty egret, Egretta vinaceigula; Tricolored heron, Egretta tricolor – also known ...
The great egret was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Ardea alba. He specified the type locality as Europe. [6] [7] The scientific name comes from Latin ardea, "heron", and alba, "white". [8] Like all egrets, it is a member of the heron family ...
Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
[11] [17] The only other very large, long-legged white birds in North America are: the great egret, which is over a foot (30 cm) shorter and one-seventh the weight of this crane; the great white heron, which is a morph of the great blue heron in Florida; and the wood stork. All three other birds are at least 30% smaller than the whooping crane.