Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - BirdLife species factsheet

Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	355,000,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	349,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	8.1 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is estimated to number 4,000,000-9,850,000 individuals. The European population is estimated at 76,100-92,300 pairs, which equates to 152,000-185,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). The population is therefore placed in the band 4,000,000-9,999,999 individuals.

Trend justification: The overall population trend is increasing, although some populations may be stable, decreasing or have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015). This species has undergone a small or statistically insignificant decrease over the last 40 years in North America (data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007) Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's range in North America. The European population is estimated to be decreasing by less than 25% in 24.3 years (three generations) (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	uncertain
Albania	extant	vagrant
Algeria	extant	native
Angola	extant	native
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	native
Antarctica	extant	vagrant
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Argentina	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Australia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	vagrant
Azerbaijan	extant	native		yes
Bahamas	extant	native
Bahrain	extant	native			yes	yes
Bangladesh	extant	native
Barbados	extant	native
Belarus	extant	vagrant
Belgium	extant	vagrant
Belize	extant	native			yes
Benin	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native
Bhutan	extant	native
Bolivia	extant	native
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	vagrant
Botswana	extant	native
Brazil	extant	native
British Indian Ocean Territory	extant	introduced		yes
Brunei	extant	native
Bulgaria	extinct	vagrant		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Canada	extant	native		yes
Cape Verde	extant	native
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
Chile	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	vagrant
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	native
Colombia	extant	native
Comoros	extant	native
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	vagrant
Cuba	extant	native
Curaçao (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Cyprus	extant	native				yes
Czechia	extant	vagrant
Denmark	extant	vagrant
Djibouti	extant	native
Dominica	extant	native
Dominican Republic	extant	native
Ecuador	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
El Salvador	extant	native
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Eswatini	extant	native
Ethiopia	extant	native
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native
Finland	extant	vagrant
France	extant	native	yes			yes
French Guiana	extant	native
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native
Germany	extant	vagrant
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native		yes		yes
Grenada	extant	native		yes
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guatemala	extant	native
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Guyana	extant	native
Haiti	extant	native
Honduras	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native		yes
Hungary	extant	vagrant
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes			yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native	yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jamaica	extant	introduced		yes
Japan	extant	native
Jordan	extant	native	yes			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	vagrant
Lebanon	extant	native				yes
Lesotho	extant	native
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	vagrant
Lithuania	extant	vagrant
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant			yes
Macao (China)	extant	native
Madagascar	extant	native
Malawi	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	native
Maldives	extant	native		yes
Mali	extant	native		yes
Malta	extant	vagrant
Marshall Islands	extant	native			yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Mauritius	extant	native
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native			yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Morocco	extant	native
Mozambique	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Namibia	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native		yes
New Caledonia (to France)	extant	vagrant
New Zealand	extant	native
Nicaragua	extant	native
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	extant	vagrant
North Korea	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	vagrant
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	vagrant
Oman	extant	native			yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Palau	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes
Panama	extant	native
Papua New Guinea	extant	native
Paraguay	extant	native
Peru	extant	native
Philippines	extant	native
Poland	extant	vagrant
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native		yes
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Réunion (to France)	extant	native
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	vagrant			yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes			yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Seychelles	extant	native
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Slovenia	extant	vagrant
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native
South Sudan	extant	native		yes	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes			yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native
St Barthelemy (to France)	extant	native
St Helena (to UK)	extant	native
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Martin (to France)	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	vagrant				yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Sudan	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native
Sweden	extant	vagrant
Switzerland	extant	vagrant
Syria	extant	native	yes			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tajikistan	extant	vagrant
Tanzania	extant	native		yes
Thailand	extant	native
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Uganda	extant	native
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes			yes
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Uruguay	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	vagrant
Venezuela	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native	yes
Western Sahara	extant	native
Yemen	extant	native	yes			yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Algeria	Bou Redim
Algeria	Boussedra Marsh
Azerbaijan	Aggyol
Azerbaijan	Gizilagach
Azerbaijan	Lake Mahmudchala
Cameroon	Logone flood-plain
Indonesia	Dataran Banjir Ogan Komering
Indonesia	Pulau Dua
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Anzali Mordab complex
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Horeh Bamdej
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Miankaleh Peninsula and Gorgan Bay
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Seyed Mohalli, Zarin Kola and Larim Sara
Israel	Carmel coast
Israel	Hefer valley
Israel	Jezre'el, Harod and Bet She'an valleys
Israel	Judean foothills
Israel	Northern lower Jordan valley
Israel	Zevulun valley
Kenya	Tana River Delta
Mali	Kouakourou
Mali	Koumbé Niasso
Mali	Lac Débo - Lac Oualado Débo
Mali	Timisobo - Képagou
Morocco	Sebkha Bou Areg
Niger	Tchérassa reservoir
Philippines	Manila Bay
Portugal	Murta dam
Portugal	Paul do Taipal
Saudi Arabia	Malaki dam
Saudi Arabia	Umm al-Qamari
Senegal	Delta du Saloum
Senegal	Joal-Fadiouth
Senegal	Niayes (from Dakar to St Louis)
Senegal	Parc National de Basse Casamance
South Sudan	Sudd (Bahr-el-Jebel system)
Spain	Albufera de Valencia marshes
Spain	Azután reservoir
Spain	Campo Arañuelo-Valdecañas reservoir
Spain	Cortados del Jarama
Spain	Ebro delta
Spain	Isla Cristina and Ayamonte marshes and Prado lagoon
Spain	La Janda
Spain	La Serena
Spain	Malpartida de Cáceres-Arroyo de la Luz
Spain	Malpica island (River Tagus)
Spain	Mérida-Montijo reservoir
Spain	Olivenza-La Albuera
Spain	River Mijares mouth
Spain	San Pedro mountain range
Spain	Tajo de Barbate coastal cliffs
Spain	Trujillo-Torrecillas de la Tiesa
Spain	Vegas del Alagón
Tanzania	Wembere steppe
Yemen	Al-Murah
Zambia	Bangweulu Swamps
Zambia	Barotse Floodplains
Zambia	Kafue Flats
Zambia	Mweru Wantipa National Park

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	major	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	passage
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	major	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 4080 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Other household goods	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/cattle-egret-bubulcus-ibis on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.