Bird / Ardea purpurea
Purple Heron
Lowest risk
Native
The purple heron is a wide-ranging species of wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea "heron", and purpureus, "coloured purple". It breeds in Africa, central and southern Europe, and southern and eastern Asia. The Western Palearctic populations migrate between breeding and wintering habitats whereas the African and tropical-Asian populations are primarily sedentary, except for occasional dispersive movements.
- Range elevation
- 0 to 1800 m
- Range mass
- 499 to 1361 g
- Range length
- 78 to 90 cm
- Average length
- 79 cm
- Range wingspan
- 120 to 150 cm
- Breeding interval
- Purple herons breed once yearly
- Breeding season
- (Depending on geographic location) April- June. June-October. November-March
- Range eggs per season
- 2 to 8
- Average eggs per season
- 4.4
- Range time to hatching
- 20 to 30 days
- Average time to hatching
- 26 days
- Range fledging age
- 40 to 50 days
- Average time to independence
- 56 days
- Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
- 2 years
- Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
- 2 years
- Range lifespan
Status: wild - 25.4 (high) years
Jones, S. 2017. "Ardea purpurea" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed November 10, 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ardea_purpurea/
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