White-necked Heron (Ardea pacifica) - BirdLife species factsheet

White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.
Turbott, E. G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.
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
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	nomadic	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,380,000 km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	10,700,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	6700-67000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	10.5 years	-	-	-

Trend justification: The overall population trend is fluctuating, although some populations are stable and others have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Breeding visitor
Australia	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native
New Zealand	extant	vagrant
Papua New Guinea	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Diamantina and Astrebla Grasslands
Australia	Fortescue Marshes
Australia	Macquarie Marshes
Australia	Mandora Marsh and Anna Plains

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Brackish/Saline Lagoons/Marine Lakes	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent/Irregular Rivers/Streams/Creeks	suitable	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-necked-heron-ardea-pacifica 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.