White-bellied Heron

Ardea insignis Hume, 1878

≈93 cmLength2 kgWeight

It is a large, dark gray heron with a conspicuously white throat and belly.

Busiest months: April · Most records: Bhutan, India

Critically Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Dark gray back; whitish belly
Long, pale feathers on the rear crown and lower front of the neck
Yellow to ocher iris
White underwing coverts and dark gray flight feathers in flight

Male, female and young

Juveniles have browner upperparts and a paler bill and legs.

Voice

Gives a low, harsh “ock ock ock ock urrrrrr” when alarmed.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: Bhutan, India

White-bellied Heron has been recorded at 14 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 2 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Bhutan India

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis) also known as the imperial heron or great white-bellied heron, is a large heron species living in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in northeast India and Bhutan to northern Myanmar. It inhabits undisturbed rivers and wetlands. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2007, because the global population is estimated at fewer than 250 mature individuals and threatened by habitat loss and human disturbance.

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