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Black Heron (Egretta ardesiaca)

Black Heron
Photo: Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 — free for commercial reuse.

About the Black Heron

The black heron (Egretta ardesiaca), also known as the black egret, is an African heron. It uses its wings to form a canopy when fishing. The black heron is a medium-sized bird, with a typical height range of 42.5 to 66 cm (16.7 to 26.0 in). Their weight can range from 0.27 to 0.39 kg (0.60 to 0.86 lb). They are known for their black plumage, black bill, and yellow feet. In breeding plumage it grows long plumes on the crown and nape. The black heron occurs patchily through Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and Sudan to South Africa, but is found mainly on the eastern half of the continent and in Madagascar. It has also been observed in Greece and Italy.

Source: Black heron on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
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No audio on this page yet

We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 8 recordings for this species: 3 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.

As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.

Listed as recorded in Ethiopia, Madagascar in the xeno-canto catalogue.

Related species you can hear

This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.