Purple Heron
Ardea purpurea
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderPelecaniformes (Pelicaniformes)
- FamilyArdeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns)
- GenusArdea (Great Herons and Egrets)
- SpeciesArdea purpurea (Purple Heron)
Closest Relatives at Table Mountain National Park
Grey Heron
Ardea cinerea
Black-headed Heron
Ardea melanocephala
Goliath Heron
Ardea goliath
Little Egret
Egretta garzetta
Cattle Egret
Bubulcus ibis
Black-crowned Night Heron
Nycticorax nycticorax
intermediate egret
Egretta intermedia
Black Heron
Egretta ardesiaca
Squacco Heron
Ardeola ralloides
Striated Heron
Butorides striata
Hadada
Bostrychia hagedash
African Sacred Ibis
Threskiornis aethiopicus
📅 Monthly Probability
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Purple Heron in Table Mountain National Park?
About 2% of visitor-days record a Purple Heron sighting in Table Mountain National Park, based on 77 observer-days of citizen-science data from GBIF.
When is the best time to see Purple Heron in Table Mountain National Park?
December has the highest sighting rate for Purple Heron in Table Mountain National Park in our monthly data.