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Egretta gularis (Western reef heron)
Westelike kusreier [Afrikaans]; Westelijke rifreiger
[Dutch]; Aigrette à gorge blanche [French]; Küstenreiher [German]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes> Family: Ardeidae
Distribution and habitat
Occurs along the coast of West and East Africa, from
Senegal to Gabon and from Sudan and Somalia to north-eastern Mozambique. It is a rare
vagrant to southern Africa, as an individual was once reported in Buffels Bay
and Olifantsbos, Western Cape, staying for several months
starting from April 2002. It generally prefers rocky and sandy beaches, reefs,
salt-marshes, estuaries, lagoons, mudflats, tidal creeks and mangroves.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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