Herons & Egrets in Canada
Our list for Canada has 7 herons & egrets recorded regularly there: 1 resident, 3 summer visitors and 3 passage migrants
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Canada in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Great Blue HeronArdea herodiasResidentCommon91–137 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaSummer visitorUncommon80–104 cmRegularly Apr–Nov
Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticoraxSummer visitorUncommon58–65 cmRecorded all year
American BitternBotaurus lentiginosusSummer visitorUncommon58–85 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
Cattle EgretArdea ibisPassage migrantRare46–56 cmRegularly Sep–Nov
Grey HeronArdea cinereaPassage migrantRare90–98 cmRegularly Jan
Little EgretEgretta garzettaPassage migrantRare55–65 cmRegularly Oct–Nov
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Cattle Egret 46–56 cm
- Little Egret 55–65 cm
- Black-crowned Night-heron 58–65 cm
- American Bittern 58–85 cm
- Great White Egret 80–104 cm
- Grey Heron 90–98 cm
- Great Blue Heron 91–137 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made