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Great egret in flight Egrets at dusk in Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India. 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.
On 22 May 2012, a pair of great egrets was observed nesting in the UK for the first time at the Shapwick Heath nature reserve in Somerset. [17] The species was a rare visitor to the UK and Ben Aviss of the BBC stated that the news could mean the UK's first great egret colony had become established.
Little egrets are mostly silent but make various croaking and bubbling calls at their breeding colonies and produce a harsh alarm call when disturbed. To the human ear, the sounds are indistinguishable from the black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) with which it sometimes associates. [9]
Egretta is a genus of medium-sized herons, mostly breeding in warmer climates.. Representatives of this genus are found in most of the world, and the little egret, as well as being widespread throughout much of the Old World, has now started to colonise the Americas.
The medium egret, as its scientific name implies, is intermediate in size between the great egret and smaller white egrets like the little egret and cattle egret, though nearer to little than great. It is about 56–72 cm (22–28 in) long with a 105–115 cm (41–45 in) wingspan and weighs c. 400 g (14 oz), [ 5 ] with all-white plumage ...
Snowy egrets breed in mixed colonies, which may include great egrets, night herons, tricolored herons, little blue herons, cattle egrets, glossy ibises and roseate spoonbills. The male establishes a territory and starts building the nest in a tree, vines or thick undergrowth.
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 74 species of herons, egrets, and bitterns in the family Ardeidae. They are distributed among 18 genera, some of which have only one species. Six extinct species are included; they are marked (X). [1]
The reddish egret was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.He placed it with the herons, cranes and egrets in the genus Ardea and coined the binomial name Ardea rufescens. [4]