Herons & Egrets in India
Our list for India has 7 herons & egrets recorded regularly there: 5 residents, 1 summer visitor and 1 winter visitor
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in India in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Little EgretEgretta garzettaResidentCommon55–65 cmRecorded all year
Grey HeronArdea cinereaResidentCommon90–98 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaResidentCommon80–104 cmRecorded all year
Purple HeronArdea purpureaResidentCommon78–90 cmRecorded all year
Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticoraxResidentUncommon58–65 cmRecorded all year
Little BitternIxobrychus minutusSummer visitorRare33–38 cmRegularly May–Oct
Eurasian BitternBotaurus stellarisWinter visitorRare69–81 cmRegularly Nov–Mar
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Little Bittern 33–38 cm
- Little Egret 55–65 cm
- Black-crowned Night-heron 58–65 cm
- Eurasian Bittern 69–81 cm
- Purple Heron 78–90 cm
- Great White Egret 80–104 cm
- Grey Heron 90–98 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