Ardea alba, Linnaeus, 1758

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 25

*GREAT EGRET Ardea alba

Local name Man Bino (Sopen; Soeparno 1977).

Range Biak, Yapen.

Status Regular visitor. Common at wetlands throughout New Guinea (Beehler & Pratt 2016) . First recorded on Biak, 26 July 1992, at Frans Kaisiepo airport (KDB). Subsequently, we and others have noted 1‒2 occasionally at the same place and on nearby coasts. The creation of the tsunami swamp in February 1996 has supported a small but diverse population of waterbirds including A. alba ; 1‒5 regularly seen in August and to a lesser extent September and November; 8 December 2016 seven (KDB) and max. 22 on 26 June 2019 (T. Deininger, eBird checklist S57719463) at this site.