Ardeidae
Ciconiiformes - Ardeidae - Herons & Egrets
© L Peat
Wild diet: Carnivorous - generally aquatic prey; fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals and various aquatic invertebrates. Studies have shown that adults fish eating species need to consume around 16% of their body weight. Captive Grey Herons require 330 - 500g of food daily as a minimum
Feeding strategy: Capture prey in or beside water Generally stand motionless next to water, waiting until prey item is close enough to spear with beak Cattle egret will follow large mammals, feeding from disturbed insects & prey items.
Species dietary differences: Cattle egret, Whistling & Black-headed herons feed further from water.
Analysis of pellets of the Grey heron, Ardea cinerea , from colonies in Belgium >
Del Hoya, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (1992). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol1. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Diet of chicks of Cattle Egrets Bubulcus ibis in the lower Soummam valley, Algeria >
Feeding Behavior and Ecology of the Goliath Heron >
Feeding behaviour of Great Blue Herons at Creston, British Columbia >
Growth, Diet, and Mortality of Nestling Great Blue Herons >
The Black-Crowned Night Heron as a Predator of Tern Chicks >
The diet of the night heron and a purple heron in the Guadalquivir marshes >
The Diet of Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons in the Eastern and Southern United States >
There are no diets in use yet for the General heron & egret information.
Please keep us up-to-date and contact us with your own updates or new diets used for the General heron & egret information.
Enter a search term below to find information from within the Avian Nutrition Resource website.