Warbla · Library
Purple Heron
Ardea purpurea · Family Ardeidae
Ardea purpurea
Family Ardeidae
- Order
- Pelecaniformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- GBIF occurrence records
- 865,802
- Countries and territories with records
- 160
About this species
This species has 865,802 occurrence records from 160 countries and territories (GBIF, 21 October 2026). Most records come from India (33.5%), Spain (9.8%), the Netherlands (8.4%), France (8%) and South Africa (6.9%); together they account for 66.5% of the total. In India, this species accounts for 0.47% of all bird records in GBIF.
The scientific name Ardea purpurea combines the genus name Ardea with the species epithet purpurea. The Warbla app catalog lists 11 species of the genus Ardea; apart from this one, those with the most GBIF records are Ardea herodias, Ardea alba and Ardea cinerea.
The catalog has GBIF record counts for 48 species of the family Ardeidae. This species ranks 14th among them; the family’s most-recorded species is Ardea herodias. Its record count is 61.8% of the family average (1,400,081). The family Ardeidae belongs to the order Pelecaniformes, which has 92 species in the Warbla app catalog.