Egretta sacra
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The Pacific reef heron (Egretta sacra), also known as the eastern reef heron or eastern reef egret, is a species of heron found throughout southern Asia and Oceania. It occurs in two colour morphs with either slaty grey or pure white plumage. The sexes are similar in appearance.
The Pacific reef heron was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the herons, cranes and egrets in the genus Ardea and coined the binomial name Ardea sacra. Gmelin based his description on the "Sacred heron" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work A General Synopsis of Birds. The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with a specimen of a white morph that had been collected on Tahiti. The Pacific reef heron is now placed with 12 other species in the genus Egretta that was introduced in 1817 by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster. The genus name comes from the Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, a diminutive of aigron, "heron". The specific epithet sacra is from Latin sacer meaning "sacred... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Tangkoko Nature Reserve | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Rottnest Island | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 10 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 11 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 14 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naha | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Đà Nẵng | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Kitakyushu | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 5 | Davao City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 6 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Busan | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 9 | Auckland | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 10 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Reef Heron sighting in Noosa National Park on a given day, based on 71 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 62nd most-seen of the 128 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Reef Heron in Noosa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November, the lowest month.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pacific Reef Heron sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Pacific Reef Heron sightings, Noosa National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cape Range (Australia, about 70%), Komodo National Park (Indonesia, about 60%) and Ningaloo Marine Park (Australia, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Egretta
The closest relatives of the Pacific Reef Heron that you can see in Noosa National Park (genus Egretta, Small Egrets and Herons) are White-faced Heron (about 20%) and Little Egret (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pacific Reef Heron is recorded against all the birds logged in Noosa National Park (71 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
