Western Cattle Egret

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Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Western Cattle Egret

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is April, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Western Cattle Egret

The map shades 176 countries with regular records, and 10 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Hong Kong SAR China, Malaysia, North Macedonia.

About the Western Cattle Egret

The western cattle egret is a species of heron found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. Formerly, most taxonomic authorities lumped this species and the eastern cattle egret together, but the two cattle egrets are now treated as separate species. Despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it is more closely related to the herons of Ardea. Originally native to parts of Africa, southwest Asia and southern Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the New World in the last century.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Grey HeronArdea cinereaThe grey heron is a large bird, standing up to 100 cm (40 in) tall and measuring 84–102 cm (33–40 in) long with a 155–195 cm (61–77 in) wingspan. Purple HeronArdea purpureaThe purple heron is a large bird, 78–97 cm (31–38 in) in length with a standing height from 70 to 94 cm (28 to 37 in) and a 120–152 cm (47–60 in) wingspan. Black-headed HeronArdea melanocephalaThe black-headed heron is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, common throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar.

Side by side: Great Blue Heron vs Western Cattle Egret · Great Egret vs Western Cattle Egret · Grey Heron vs Western Cattle Egret · Purple Heron vs Western Cattle Egret