- Ardea cinerea
Other Names
German: Graureiher; Afrikaans: Bloureier
Subspecies
Nominate race occurs over most of range with much paler monicae on the Banc D'Arguin of Mauritania, jouyi in the east from Japan to Java and firasa on Madagascar, Aldabra and the Comoros.
Identification
90 - 98 cm and up to 2 kg. The Grey Heron has the crown bright white, with a black line running from above and behind the eye to the nape and extending as a spike-like crest. The neck is white with a double row of black streaks running down the front of the throat. The rest of the underparts are grey, with a black patch running from the shoulder and down the flanks. The back and wings are grey. The long, dagger-like bill is yellow and the legs and feet are greenish-yellow. Like others of the family, the Grey Heron flies with its long neck retracted and the head pulled back into its shoulders. It has an all-grey underwing.
Distribution
A very widespread Old World species breeding across much of Eurasia and Africa. Breeds throughout the British Isles and much of mainland Europe from north and central France north to coastal Scandinavia and east across Russia to Sakhalin, Manchuria and Japan. In the south found at scattered localities from Iberia to Greece and Turkey, the Caucasus and east across southern Asia, India and Indochina south to Sumatra and Java. In Africa breeds on the Mediterranean coast and in the Nile Valley, on the Banc D'Arguin in Mauritania, probably also on the Azores, in West Africa, western Madagascar and from Ethiopia south to South Africa. Northernmost birds are migratory and winter range is more extensive in Europe, Africa, south-west Asia and Indonesia. Vagrant north to Greenland and Svalbard and to the south a rare resident/migrant or vagrant to Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Also recorded on Bermuda and in the West Indies.
Habitat
Colonial breeder, usually in trees in most of Europe, sometimes on a cliff or in reedbeds in the east, race monicae nests on the ground on islets. Frequents the margins of a variety of freshwaters including lakes, streams and swamps, brackish lagoons and estuaries, and often sea-coasts. Also feeds or rests on grassland. In some parts of range a common bird in urban areas.
Bird Song
<flashmp3>Ardea cinerea (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
