AnimalvsAnimal
028 Grey heron in the Camargue Photo by Giles Laurent🐦

Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesPelecaniformesArdeidae
Birds

🐦Grey Heron

Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758

The grey heron is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water, or stalking its prey through the shallows.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
101
Photos
3
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 1/43rd of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2019.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
1.44 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
38 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Grey Heron

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1.44 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.44 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.17 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.44 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.14 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.14 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
38 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Wetland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
1.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Grey Heron yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderPelecaniformes
  5. ›familyArdeidae
  6. ›genusArdea
  7. ›speciesArdea cinerea
Full lineage
  1. superclassTetrapoda
  2. orderSauria
  3. classBirds · Aves
  4. familyArdeidae
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. familyArdeidae
More

More about the Grey Heron

Closest relative on this site
🦩 Black-crowned Night Heron — last shared an ancestor ≈ 32 million years ago.
In other languages
gråhäger (sv), czapla siwa (pl), Graureiher (de), héron cendré (fr), Blauwe Reiger (nl), Ardea cinerea (es) … and 27 more languages
More photos
028 Grey heron in the Camargue Photo by Giles LaurentArdea cinerea EM1A2714 (27349354381)Ardea cinerea Flying Gumma ken Japan 20250105 YAS2891 2
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