The reddish egret (Egretta rufescens) is a medium-sized heron that is a resident breeder in Central America, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States (primarily Texas), and Mexico.

The egret is known for its unusual foraging behavior compared to other herons as well as its association with mud flats, its habitat of choice.

"[3] The reddish egret was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[4] Gmelin based his description on that of the English ornithologist John Latham who in 1785 had included the species in his multi-volume A General Synopsis of Birds.

[6][7] The reddish egret is now placed with 12 other species in the genus Egretta that was introduced in 1817 by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster.

The adult dark morph has a slate blue body and reddish head and neck with shaggy plumes.

[15]: 135 The reddish egret is a resident breeder in Central America, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States, and Mexico.