Birds Thru My Eyes : MALAYSIA: Great White Egret / Great Egret

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Order - Pelecaniformes
Family - Ardeidae (Herons)

Great White Egret / Great Egret

Ardea alba

大白鹭 (dà bái-lù)

Malay : Bangau Besar

Japanese : ダイサギ (dai-sagi)

Kanji 日語漢字 : 大鷺

Extent of Occurrence (resident/breeding) : 368,000,000km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding) : 366,000,000km²

Migratory Status : Full Migrant

Breeding Endemic : No

Size : 80–104 cm; 700–1700 g; Wingspan 140–170 cm

Subspecies (4) and Distribution

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Great Egret (alba) Ardea alba alba

Ardea alba alba (Linnaeus, 1758)
– Western and central Europe (west to the southern British Isles), east to Central Asia (south to Iran), the Russian Far East, northeast China (Heilongjiang), and central Japan; winters primarily from south-central Europe to northern and Central Africa, and the Persian Gulf to southern China and Korea.

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Great Egret (African) Ardea alba melanorhynchos

Ardea alba melanorhynchos (Wagler, 1827)
– Resident at scattered locations across Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal east to Sudan and south to South Africa and Madagascar.

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Great Egret (American) Ardea alba egretta

Ardea alba egretta (Gmelin, 1789)
– This subspecies of the Great Egret occurs from northwestern U.S. and southeastern Canada south through much of North and Central America and the Caribbean to southern Chile and south-central Argentina (Santa Cruz). In winter, the subspecies' population withdraws from higher latitudes toward the tropics.

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Great Egret (modesta) Ardea alba modesta

Ardea alba modesta (Gray, 1831)
– This subspecies of the Great Egret occurs from the Indian Subcontinent (west to southern Pakistan) east to Southeast Asia, southeastern and eastern China, southern Japan and Korea, south through the Sundas, Wallacea, and the New Guinea region to Australia (except the arid interior) and New Zealand.