Snowy egret: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the snowy egret lives – recorded in 50 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Egretta thula
Group	Herons, storks, cranes & flamingos
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	50 countries
Continents	Europe, North America, South America
Class	Bird
Order	Pelecaniformes
Family	Ardeidae

Where does the snowy egret live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the snowy egret in 50 countries and territories across Europe, North America and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Belém, Africa, Brazil, South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the snowy egret endangered?

The snowy egret’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the snowy egret?

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the family Ardeidae, genus Egretta. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the snowy egret

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, which is a diminutive of aigron, 'heron'. The species name thula is the Mapudungun term for the black-necked swan, applied to this species in error by Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782.

The snowy egret is the American counterpart to the very similar Old World little egret, which has become established in the Bahamas. At one time, the plumes of the snowy egret were in great demand as decorations for women's hats. They were hunted for these plumes and this reduced the population of the species to dangerously low levels. Now protected in the United States by law, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, this bird's population has rebounded.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Snowy egret (revision 1380782210), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q59785 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).