Herons & Egrets in Malawi
Our list for Malawi has 7 herons & egrets recorded regularly there: 5 residents and 2 passage migrants
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Malawi in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Cattle EgretArdea ibisResidentCommon46–56 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaResidentCommon80–104 cmRecorded all year
Grey HeronArdea cinereaResidentCommon90–98 cmRecorded all year
Little EgretEgretta garzettaResidentCommon55–65 cmRecorded all year
Squacco HeronArdeola ralloidesResidentCommon40–49 cmRegularly Apr–Feb
Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticoraxPassage migrantUncommon58–65 cmRegularly May–Jan
Purple HeronArdea purpureaPassage migrantUncommon78–90 cmRegularly Oct–May
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Squacco Heron 40–49 cm
- Cattle Egret 46–56 cm
- Little Egret 55–65 cm
- Black-crowned Night-heron 58–65 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