The herons and egrets make up the Ardeidae family. Species belonging to genus Ardea are usually considered to be herons and those belonging to genus Egretta are called egrets. However, there is no clear distinction between herons and egrets. Those species that are white or have fancy plumage are usually called egrets. Bitterns also belong to the Ardeidae family.A common feature of the Ardeidae species is that they fly with their necks retracted, unlike the ibis that fly with their necks outstretched


Bitterns

Genus Ixobrychus

Bittern, Little  Ixobrychus minutus   Found: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia 
Photographed by: 1) Marek Szczepanek



HERONS

Genus Ardea
This genus contains two species that are commonly referred to as egrets: the Great Egret and Intermediate Egret!


Egret, Great aka Great White Egret Ardea alba   Found: The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia
Photographed by: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Dick Daniels, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Australia
    8) Sandy Cole - Flamingo Gardens in Floridas
2, 8) Breeding plumage 



Egret, Intermediate aka Yellow-billed Egret  Ardea intermedia   Found: Europe, Asia, Australasia
Photographed by: 1) J M Garg  - Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India 
    2, 3) Lip Kee Yap - Mary River, Northern Territory, Australia


Heron, Grey Ardea cinerea Found: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia
Photographed by:  1, 2) Arno Meintjes  3) Dick Daniels - Scotland  4) Dick - Scotland  
    5) Dick - South Africa  6) Dick - Nepal  7) Dick - Tanzania 



Heron, Pied Ardea picata   Found: Australia
Photographed by:  1) Jutta234 - Frankfurt Zoo  2)  JJ Harrison - Melbourne Zoo  3) Burtonpe - Adelaide Zoo, Australia


Heron, White-necked Ardea pacifica   Found: Australia
Photogrpahed by: 1) Dick Daniels - Kuranda Birdworld, Australia  2) Glen Fergus



Genus Butorides

Heron, Striated aka Little Heron aka Green-backed Heron Butorides striatus Found: South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia
Photographed by: 1) Dick Daniels - Australia   2) Dick - Australia  3, 4, 7)  Cláudio Timm - Uruguay  5, 6,) Arno Meintjes
8) Juvenile




Genus Nycticorax

Heron, Black-crowned Night Nycticorax nycticorax   Found: The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia
Photographed by: 1, 2) Dick Daniels - New Jersey   3) Dick - Brookfield Gardens, So. Carolina
    4) Sandy Cole - Flamingo Gardens in Florida  5) Dick Daniels- Kauai, Hawaii 6) Ted Grussing  7)Chris Queen
1, 2, 6) Juvenile



Heron, Nankeen Night- Nycticorax caledonicus   Found: Australia, Indonesia
Photographed by: 1) Michael Spencer - Jurong Bird Park, Singapore  2) Mehmet Karatay - Melbourne Zoo