Dohat Arad Lagoon, Muharraq, Bahrain The western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also called the western reef egret, is a medium-sized heron found in southern Europe, Africa and parts of Asia.

There have been suggestions that the species hybridizes with the Little Egret, and based on this, some authors treat schistacea and gularis as subspecies of Egretta garzetta.

Works that consider the Western Reef Heron as a valid species include the nominate gularis and schistacea as subspecies.

The nominate subspecies gularis has a range from West Africa to Gabon, with some birds breeding in southern Europe.

The form on the eastern coast of South Africa is usually separated as the dimorphic egret Egretta dimorpha.

[7] The species was first described as Ardea gularis from a specimen obtained in Senegal by the French naturalist Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1792.

Later authors have treated it the genera Demiegretta (in which dimorphic egrets were once included[8]), Herodias and Lepterodius until its current stable position in the genus Egretta.

[12] Christidis and Boles quote a report by McCracken and Sheldon (2002) that the nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b genes from a sampled little egret and a western reef heron were identical and use this as evidence for demotion.

[3] The dark coastal form of Madagascar, Aldabra, Comoro Islands, Seychelles and parts of East Africa (southern Kenya to Tanzania) was earlier treated as a subspecies (the mainland African form has sometimes been considered as schistacea) but is now raised to full species as the dimorphic egret (Egretta dimorpha).

[4][14][15] It occurs mainly on the coasts in tropical west Africa, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf (Iran)[17] extending east to India.

[29] Several records around 1980–90 in Germany, Austria and France have been attributed to birds that escaped from an animal dealer in Mittelfranken.

[18] Laboratory studies show them to be capable of making corrections for refractions but the probability of missing increases when they are forced to strike at prey at very acute angles to the water surface.

[30] Like other herons and egrets they have few vocalizations, making a low kwok or grating sounds when disturbed or near the nest.