Ardea goliath

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,704 meters (0 to 15,433 feet).[1]

Ecology: Behaviour This species is not migratory but may make local dispersive or nomadic movements in response to seasonal habitat changes1. Breeding usually coincides with the start of the rains although in some areas the species breed in any month of the year2 or only when conditions are most favourable (i.e. not every year)1. It is not a gregarious species1 and usually nests and forages in solitary pairs1, 2. Occasionally it may also nest in small single- or mixed-species colonies1, 2 and has been known to forage in larger flocks1. Habitat The species inhabits both coastal and inland2 freshwater and saline waters1, 2, showing a preference for2 shallow water along the shores of lakes , rivers1, 2 and lagoons2. Other suitable habitats include marshes, tidal estuaries, reefs, mangrove creeks1 and waterholes in woodland savanna2. The species often forages away from the shore in deep water near floating vegetation2. Diet Its diet consists predominantly of large fish 15-50 cm long although it will also take frogs , lizards, snakes , rodents, crabs, prawns and floating carrion1. Breeding site The nest is a platform of sticks or reeds1 placed less than 3 m high in trees over water, on partly submerged trees, low bushes, mangroves, cliffs , sedges, papyrus, reeds1 or on bare ground2, showing a preference for nest sites that are surrounded by water1 (e.g. islands or islands of vegetation in lakes)2 but also utilising on riverbanks and lakeshores2.

[2].

List of Habitats:

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.7     Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level   
  
•     3     Shrubland   
  
•     3.6     Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Moist   
  
•     5     Wetlands (inland)   
  
•     5.1     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls )   
  
•     5.4     Wetlands (inland) - Bogs , Marshes, Swamps , Fens , Peatlands   
  
•     5.5     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)   
  
•     5.14     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Lakes   
  
•     9     Marine Neritic   
  
•     9.10     Marine Neritic - Estuaries   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Ardea goliath Cretzschmar, 1827

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Similar Species

Members of the genus Ardea

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 24 species and subspecies in this genus:

A. alba (Great White Egret) · A. alba alba (Great White Egret) · A. cinerea (European Blue Heron) · A. cinerea cinerea (European Blue Heron) · A. cocoi (White-Necked Heron) · A. goliath (Goliath Heron) · A. herodias (Northwestern Coast Heron) · A. herodias fannini (Great Blue Heron) · A. herodias herodias (Great Blue Heron) · A. herodias hyperonca (Great Blue Heron) · A. herodias occidentalis (Great White Heron) · A. herodias sanctilucae (Great Blue Heron) · A. herodias treganzai (Great Blue Heron) · A. herodias wardi (Great Blue Heron) · A. humbloti (Madagascar Heron) · A. imperialis (White-Bellied Heron) · A. insignis (White-Bellied Heron) · A. melanocephala (Black-Headed Heron) · A. novaehollandiae (White-Faced Heron) · A. pacifica (White-Necked Heron) · A. picata (Pied Heron) · A. purpurea (Purple Heron) · A. sumatrana (Great-Billed Heron) · A. sumatrana sumatrana (Great-Billed Heron)

More Info

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Further Reading

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• A dictionary of birds, by Alfred Newton, assisted by Hans Gadow, with contributions from Richard Lydekker. .. Charles S. Roy. .. and Robert W. Shufeldt. .. London, A. and C. Black, 1893-1896. url p. 418.
• A hand-list of genera and species of birds of the Indian empire, by E. C. Stuart Baker. .. Bombay, Printed by order of the committee of the Bombay natural history society[1923] url p. 232.
• A history of the birds of Ceylon / London: Published by the author, 1880 [i.e. 1878-1880] url , , p. 1124, p. 1125.
• A history of the birds of Europe: including all the species inhabiting the western palaearctic region / London: Published by the Author, 1871-1881. url p. 535.
• A list of the birds known to inhabit the Island of Celebes / url .
• A sportsman's wanderings, by J. G. Millais. .. With 4 collotype plates and 11 other illustrations from author's drawings and photographs. Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin company, 1920. url p. 201.
• Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Cape Town [etc., South African Museum, etc.] url p. 349.
• Annals of tropical medicine and parasitology. LiverpoolUniversity Press [etc.] url p. 461.
• Annotated CITES Appendices and Reservations CITES url p. 62.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. url p. 100, p. 100, p. 103, p. 71, p. 86, p. 91, p. 93, p. 96, p. 98.
• Annual report of the New York Zoological Society. New York: The Society, 1897- url p. 80.
• Annual reports of the Department of Agriculture. .. Washington: G.P.O., [1894?]-1924. url p. 249.
• Ardea. Amsterdam, etc., Nederlandse Ornithlogische Unie, etc. url p. 33.
• Biosphere Reserves, Compilation 4, October 1986: programme on man and the biosphere (MAB) IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 147, p. 239, p. 333.
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• Birds of Darjeeling and India, by L.J. Mackintosh. Calcutta, Printed by J.N. Banerjee & son, 1915. url .
• Birds. By Eugene W. Oates. London: Taylor and Francis; [etc., etc.], 1889-98. url p. 380, p. 384.
• Birds. London, Taylor and Francis, 1889-1898. url , .
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• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) url p. 207, p. 57, p. 72.
• Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. London: The Club, 1893- url p. 108, p. 34, p. 58.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 81 1937 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 27, p. 398.
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• Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum / By E. W. Oates [and afterwards] by S. G. Reid [and] W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. London, 1901-12. url p. 112.
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• Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1987. url p. 202, p. 98.
• Checklist of CITES Species CITES, WCMC url p. 103, p. 154, p. 78.
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• Checklist of birds listed in the CITES appendices and in EC Regulation 338/97 JNCC url p. 4.
• Directory of Wetlands of International Importance. IUCN url p. 254, p. 333, p. 535, p. 543, p. 759.
• Game, shore, and water birds of India, with additional references to their allied species in other parts of the world. London, W. Thacker, 1904. url .
• Geological magazine. London [etc.]Cambridge University Press. url p. 100.
• Guide to the Gallery of Birds in the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History). London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1921. url p. 60.
• Guide to the gallery of birds in the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History) LondonPrinted by order of the Trustees[1921] url p. 60.
• IUCN Directory of Afrotropical Protected Areas IUCN, UNEP url p. 1012, p. 158, p. 523, p. 585, p. 667, p. 682, p. 696, p. 885, p. 941, p. 983, p. 998.
• IUCN Directory of South Asian Protected Areas IUCN url p. 15, p. 282.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. url p. 193, p. 200, p. 205, p. 208, p. 244, p. 254, p. 255, p. 266, p. 27, p. 282, p. 283, p. 355, p. 36, p. 365, p. 372, p. 411, p. 424, p. 428, p. 440, p. 450, p. 503, p. 515, p. 522, p. 527, p. 537, p. 557, p. 595, p. 97.
• In wildest Africa / by C.G. Schillings; translated by Frederic Whyte. London: Hutchinson, 1907. url p. 330.
• In wildest Africa, by C.G. Schillings, Tr. by Frederic Whyte. With over 300 photographic studies direct from the author's negatives, taken by day and night; and other illustrations. London: Harper & brothers, 1907. url p. 330.
• International catalogue of scientific literature. LondonPublished for the International Council by the Royal Society of London1901-1920 url p. 37.
• List of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. London, Printed for the Society, 1896. url p. 416.
• List of vertebrated animals living in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. .. London, Printed for the Society, 1866. url p. 162.
• Lord Lilford on birds: being a collection of informal and unpublished writings by the late president of the British Ornithologists' Union. With contributed papers upon falconry and otter hunting, his favourite sports. Edited by Aubyn Trevor-Battye and illustrated by Archibald Thorburn. London, Hutchinson, 1903. url p. 273.
• Madagascar: an environmental profile IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 175.
• Natural history in zoological gardens; being some account of vertebrated animals, with special reference to those usually to be seen in the Zoological society's gardens in London and similar institutions, by Frank E. Beddard. .. With illustrations by Gambier Bolton & Winifred Austen. London, A. Constable & co., ltd.;1905. url p. 202, p. 303.
• Notes on the birds of Damara Land and the adjacent countries of South-west Africa. London, J. van Voorst, 1872. url .
• Notes on the birds of Damara land and the adjacent countries of the south-west Africa. By the late Charles John Anderson. .. Arranged and edited by John Henry Gurney, with some additional notes by the editor, and and introductory chapter containing a sketch of the author's life, abridge London, J. van Voorst1872. url p. 285.
• Ornithologisches Centralblatt. Leipzig. url p. 10.
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• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia url p. 173, p. 173, p. 359, p. 602, p. 602.
• Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. London: Academic Press, [etc.], 1833-1965. url , p. 1046, p. 1046, p. 106, p. 106, p. 1093, p. 173, p. 304, p. 611, p. 637, p. 740, p. 864.
• Protected Landscapes: experience around the world. Prepared for the International Symposium on Protected Landscapes, Grange-over-Sands, England 5-10 October 1987 IUCN url p. 369.
• Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. .. [Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution], 1848-1932. url p. 100, p. 103, p. 83, p. 86, p. 92, p. 93, p. 96, p. 97, p. 98.
• Results of the Swedish zoological expedition to Egypt and the White Nile, 1901, under the direction of L.A. Jägerskiöld. [Uppsala]Library of the Royal University of Uppsala[1904-11] url p. 11, p. 146.
• Revised list of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological society of London. 1872. London, Printed for the Society, [1872] url p. 233.
• Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement. Leyden, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. url p. 3.
• Sketches of South African bird-life, Cape Town, T. M. Miller, 1914. url , .
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• Stray feathers. Journal of ornithology for India and its dependencies. Calcutta: s.n., 1872-1899. url , p. 4, p. 486, p. 534.
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• The Auk. Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union, etc., 1884- url p. 338, p. 644.
• The Avicultural magazine. Ascot, Berkshire, etc.: Avicultural Society, etc. url p. 162, p. 184.
• The Cambridge natural history / edited by S. F. Harmer and A. E. Shipley. London: Macmillan and Co.; 1895-1909. url p. 591, p. 89.
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• The Cambridge natural history, ed. by S.F. Harmer. .. and A.E. Shipley. .. London, Macmillan and co., limited;1895-1909 url p. 591.
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Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. Ardea goliath. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 October 2006.
• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• BirdLife International 2009. Ardea goliath. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 30January2012.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 10, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 3 providers.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 10, 2008:

• BeBIF Provider: Royal Museum of Central Africa - Albertian Rift Birds (ENBI wp13)
• Israel Nature and Parks Authority
• Senckenberg: Collection Aves (bird skins)

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 8832
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-174784
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14156414
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 174784
• IUCN ID: 192481
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 152778

Footnotes

1. Mean = 568.270 meters (1,864.403 feet), Standard Deviation = 916.340 based on 14,455 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
2. BirdLife International 2009. Ardea goliath. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 30 January 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.