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| Home > BirdFacts > herons > Great White Egret | |
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| Great White Egret Ardea alba [Linnaeus, 1758] | |
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Other Names
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Records
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Books & Links
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Order:
Ciconiiformes
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Family: Ardeidae |
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BTO Codes:
HW , GRWEG
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EURING No: 1210 | |
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Number in Britain:
6 records/year
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Conservation Status:
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View video clips from
IBC
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Status in UK:
(A) Scarce Visitor
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Subspecies:
alba recorded in Britain (of 4 subsp. in the world)
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Length:
94 cm
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Wingspan: 155 cm |
Weight:
M/F: 870 g
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Scientific name from:
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L.: ardea=a heron and L.: albus=white |
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World Distribution:
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From e Europe through s&c Asia to Australasia, e,s Africa and Americas from c US south to s South America |
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Habitat:
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Marshes, reedbed, lakes & rivers |
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Diet:
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Insects, also fish in wet season, small mammals in dry season |
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TitBit:
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The slaughter of egrets for their plumes lead to the formation in Didsbury (near Manchester) of the Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889, it received a royal warrant 15 years later; its lady members used farmed ostrich feathers instead |
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| Records and Distribution | |
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First Record:
Cambridgeshire, 1849
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Total Number of Records (1958-2004):
264
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Summary of Records by Year
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Most Likely to Occur in:
April to July
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Most Recent County Records:
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Scotland:
Argyll
(2004),
Angus & Dundee
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Borders
(2001),
Clyde
(2004),
Dumfries & Galloway
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Fife
(2004),
Upper Forth
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Highland
(2003),
Lothian
(2003),
Northeast
(2004),
Outer Hebrides
(2002),
Orkney
(2002),
Shetland
(2004),
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North-east England:
Cleveland
(2004),
Durham
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Northumberland
(2003),
East Yorkshire
(2001),
North Yorkshire
(2004),
South Yorkshire
(2004),
West Yorkshire
(2000),
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North-west England:
Cheshire
(2003),
Cumbria
(2003),
Lancashire
(2004),
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English Midlands:
Derbyshire
(2004),
Leicestershire
(2003),
Northamptonshire
(2002),
Nottinghamshire
(2003),
Shropshire
(1995),
Staffordshire
(2003),
Warwickshire
(2000),
West Midlands
(2002),
Worcestershire
(1999),
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Eastern England:
Cambridgeshire
(2003),
Essex
(2003),
Hertfordshire
(2003),
Lincolnshire
(2003),
Norfolk
(2003),
Suffolk
(2004),
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South-east England:
Berkshire
(2003),
Buckinghamshire
(2003),
Hampshire
(2004),
Isle of Wight
(2002),
Kent
(2004),
Greater London
(2000),
Oxfordshire
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Surrey
(2002),
East Sussex
(2004),
West Sussex
(2004),
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South-west England:
Cornwall
(2004),
Devon
(2004),
Dorset
(2003),
Gloucestershire
(2003),
Somerset
(2003),
Wiltshire
(2002),
Isles of Scilly
(1995),
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Wales:
Anglesey
(2000),
Carmarthen
(2004),
Clwyd
(1981),
Glamorgan
(2003),
Gwynedd
(2002),
Gwent
(1995),
Pembrokeshire
(2004),
Powys
(1999),
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| Other Names | |
| Great Egret | |
| Gaelic: Corra-gheal-mhòr | Welsh: Crëyr Mawr Gwyn |
| Danish: Sølvhejre | Dutch: Grote zilverreiger |
| Finnish: Jalohaikara | French: Grande Aigrette |
| German: Silberreiher | Hungarian: Nagy kócsag |
| Icelandic: Mjallhegri | Irish: Éigrit Mhór |
| Italian: Airone bianco maggiore | Norwegian: Egretthegre |
| Polish: Czapla biala | Portuguese: Garça-branca-grande |
| Spanish: Garceta grande | Swedish: Ägretthäger |
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| For More Information... |
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Books and Monographs:
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| Voisin, C. 1991 The herons of Europe Poyser, London [598.461 VOI] |
| Kushlan, J.A. & Hancock, J. 2005 The Herons Oxford University Press [598.461 KUS] |
| See Also: |
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All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
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Gough, G.A. et al. (1998) Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter
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Wikipedia entry
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Recent sightings and information from BirdGuides.com
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Find papers on Google Scholar
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Find papers on Scirus
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| These data should be cited as: | © British Trust for Ornithology, |
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