Michele Mendi

A very broad breeding range, from E Europe to Asia, also in Africa, Oceania and America (BirdLife International 2021). Absent as a breeding bird in W Europe until recent times; nowadays it also breeds from France to Sweden, also UK (Lawicki 2014, Wlodarczyk et al. 2020). Absent from the boreal region and in deserts. N populations are migratory and S populations, resident. In W Europe it is common during the non-breeding season.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		79800-132000,102000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Great Egret

Main migratory flow non-random, from E to W (Wlodarczyk et al. 2020); the W European population breeding in France migrates, however, mostly taking N to NE/E migratory directions. The degree of connectivity is low; during the winter the degree of overlap of birds of different origin (breeding) areas in given wintering sites is very high. All European population overwinters in Europe (no recoveries in Africa or Asia), mostly throughout the Baltic/Atlantic façade from S Scandinavia to Iberia, also in UK and the rest of Mediterranean peninsulas. Birds wintering in UK belong to the new population breeding in France.

Recoveries by Condition for Great Egret

Migration to winter grounds starts in Aug/Sep, and return to breeding colonies is detected in Mar. In May, most birds are found at their breeding areas, with the exception of those which remain as non-breeders in non-breeding places. A remarkable number of birds spend the winter in or near their breeding sites, a behavior likely promoted in case of warm winters, which hence would be expected to be increase with the climate warming.

Annual Movements for Great Egret

Migration to winter grounds starts in Aug/Sep, and return to breeding colonies is detected in Mar. In May, most birds are found at their breeding areas, with the exception of those which remain as non-breeders in non-breeding places. A remarkable number of birds spend the winter in or near their breeding sites, a behavior likely promoted in case of warm winters, which hence would be expected to be increase with the climate warming.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Great Egret

Recoveries in the S-Central, SE and SW region mostly belong to individuals ringed in E Europe. Ringing is done mainly from May to Jun. Recoveries in SW Europe happen mainly from Oct to Mar, but there are encounters throughout the whole annual cycle. Those in summer mostly due to non-breeding immature birds that stay their first summer in their wintering areas. A similar pattern for the S-Central region. Few recoveries for the SE region, curiously most of them obtain in summer (Jun).

Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
BirdLife International2021 . Species factsheet: Ardea alba.
Lawicki, L.2014 . The Great White Egret in Europe: population increase and range expansion since 1980. 107British Birds: 8–25
Włodarczyk, R., Szafara, D., Kaczmarek, K., Janiszewski, T., Minias, P. 2020 . Migratory behaviour and survival of Great Egrets after range expansion in Central Europe. 8PeerJ

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