GAP Analysis Predicted Distribution Map

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Species Code: ANST

Legend:
= Core Habitat
= Marginal Habitat

Breeding Range Map
The green area shows the predicted habitats for breeding only. The habitats were identified using 1991 satellite imagery, Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA), other datasets and experts throughout the state, as part of the Washington Gap Analysis Project. Habitats used during non-breeding months and migratory rest-stops were not mapped.

Metadata (Data about data or how the map was made)

Click to enlarge distribution map

Other maps & Information:

Breeding Bird Atlas
NatureMapping observations
during breeding season
NatureMapping observations
throughout the year

This species is locally uncommon in southeastern Grant County and vicinity in wetlands. Specifically they are found at Potholes Reservoir, Moses Lake, Crab Creek, the Frenchman Hills area, Winchester Wasteway, and at ponds in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. Confirmed nesting records are from small colonies in trees at the north and south ends of the Potholes Reservoir, and a small colony along the Columbia River between Benton and Franklin Counties.

Good habitats in the core areas of use included all freshwater bodies and wetlands in the Central Arid Steppe zone, limited to areas with known records.

Breeding season records of this species are fairly common from the Potholes area, but rare elsewhere in the state. Great Egrets are apparently recent colonists in Washington, as there was no report of them in Washington as of 1953. The first nesting record was reported at Potholes Reservoir, with Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons, in willow trees. Great Egrets have since extended their nesting activity to the Hanford site along the Columbia River between the counties mentioned above. Egrets are occasionally seen outside the known breeding range, including Franklin County (away from the known breeding location), Lincoln County, and Spokane County. These birds may be wanderers or it may be a sign that the species is expanding its breeding range in the basin.

Translated from the Washington Gap Analysis Bird Volume by Uchenna Bright
Text edited by Gussie Litwer
Webpage designed by Dave Lester