Common name: Great Egret
Scientific name: Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758

Class:
Aves (Birds)
Order:
Pelecaniformes (Pelicans and Cormorants)
Family:
Ardeidae (Herons, Bitterns, and Egrets)
Synonyms:
Other common names:

Habitat type(s):
Habitat description(s)
Estuarine:
Bay/sound, River mouth/tidal river, Lagoon, Tidal flat/shore, Herbaceous wetland, Scrub-shrub wetland
Lacustrine:
Shallow water
Palustrine:
HERBACEOUS WETLAND, SCRUB-SHRUB WETLAND, FORESTED WETLAND, Riparian
Riverine:
Low gradient
Terrestrial:
Grassland/herbaceous

Ecological systems and subsytems (about):
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
High salt marsh (guide)
A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide up to the limit of spring tides. It is periodically flooded by spring tides and flood tides. High salt marshes typically consist of a mosaic of patches that are mostly dominated by a single graminoid species.
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
Low salt marsh (guide)
A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide down to mean sea level or to about 2 m (6 ft) below mean high tide. It is regularly flooded by semidiurnal tides. The mean tidal range of low salt marshes on Long Island is about 80 cm, and they often form in basins with a depth of 1.6 m or greater.
MARINE - MARINE INTERTIDAL:
Marine intertidal mudflats* (guide)
A community of quiet waters, with substrates composed of silt or sand that is rich in organic matter and poorly drained at low tide. The substrate may be covered with algae.
TERRESTRIAL - OPEN UPLANDS:
Maritime dunes (guide)
A community dominated by grasses and low shrubs that occurs on active and stabilized dunes along the Atlantic coast. The composition and structure of the vegetation is variable depending on stability of the dunes, amounts of sand deposition and erosion, and distance from the ocean.
LACUSTRINE - NATURAL LAKES AND PONDS:
Summer-stratified monomictic lake (guide)
The aquatic community of a lake that is so deep (or large) that it has only one period of mixing or turnover each year (monomictic), and one period of stratification. These lakes generally do not freeze over in winter (except in unusually cold years) or form only a thin or sporadic ice cover during the coldest parts of midwinter, so the water circulates and is isothermal during the winter.
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE SUBTIDAL:
Tidal river* (guide)
The aquatic community of a river under the influence of daily lunar tides. We restrict this community to the continuously flooded portions of the river where plants do not grow out of the water. A deepwater zone has depths averaging more than 2 m (6 ft) at low tide. Salinities at any one place in the river may fluctuate as the tides flow in and out.

* probable association but not confirmed.


Conservation:
Global conservation status rank:
G5
Secure globally - Common in the world; widespread and abundant (but may be rare in some parts of its range).
State conservation status rank:
S4
Apparently Secure in New York - Uncommon in New York but not rare; usually widespread, but may be rare in some parts of the state; possibly some cause for long-term concern due to declines or other factors.
Federal protection:
Not Listed
State protection:
Protected Bird
Defined as a Protected Bird by New York State law, and the species may not be hunted or taken at any time in New York. Includes birds also defined as a game species, but for which no open seasons are set.
SGCN:
NYNHP track status:
W: Track on a watch list only

More information:
Conservation guide:
https://guides.nynhp.org/great-egret/
NatureServe explorer link:
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103493/Ardea_alba/