Herons & Egrets in Massachusetts
Our list for Massachusetts has 5 herons & egrets recorded regularly there: 2 residents, 2 summer visitors and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Massachusetts in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 5, most common first
Great Blue HeronArdea herodiasResidentCommon91–137 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaSummer visitorCommon80–104 cmRegularly Mar–Nov
Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticoraxSummer visitorUncommon58–65 cmRegularly Mar–Jan
American BitternBotaurus lentiginosusResidentRare58–85 cmRecorded all year
Cattle EgretArdea ibisPassage migrantRare46–56 cmRegularly Oct–May
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Cattle Egret 46–56 cm
- Black-crowned Night-heron 58–65 cm
- American Bittern 58–85 cm
- Great White Egret 80–104 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