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Poland’s Breeding Great Egret Population Reached 1,150–1,250 Pairs

Great egret standing in shallow water on the Vistula River in Poland
Conservation · Population & status

The breeding population of great egret (Ardea alba) in Poland has expanded rapidly since the species first began nesting there in the late 1990s. A national analysis published in 2026 estimated 1,150–1,250 breeding pairs in 2023–2025, the highest level recorded during the species’ roughly three decades as a Polish breeder.

Researchers monitored all known breeding sites from 2020 to 2025 and compiled earlier records to describe changes in range and abundance. Breeding was documented at 31 sites, all in eastern and north-eastern Poland: 15 in the Lublin region, 11 in Warmia and Masuria and five in Podlasie. A further eight historical sites used between 1997 and 2019 were no longer occupied.

Population growth accelerated after 2020

Between 2013 and 2025, the national breeding population increased by 84%, corresponding to an average annual increase of about 7%. During the more intensively monitored period from 2020 to 2025, the estimated trend was stronger, at 11.6% annual growth.

The distribution of breeding pairs was concentrated in three regions. Warmia and Masuria held an average of 39% of the national population, Podlasie 32% and the Lublin region 29%. Individual colonies contained between one and 251 occupied nests. Colonies with up to 25 pairs were the most common, while only one site, at Lake Gaładuś in Podlasie, averaged more than 200 nests.

Reedbeds held more than half of the recorded nests

Lakes and reservoirs were the most frequently used breeding environments, together accounting for 71% of breeding sites and 73.1% of nests. Reedbeds were particularly important: 20 of the 31 occupied sites were in reedbeds, which held 56.7% of all recorded nests.

The authors describe the Polish population as still expanding in both abundance and breeding distribution. The results document how a species first recorded breeding in Poland in 1997 has become a regular nesting bird in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country.

Sources and image credit

  1. Beuch, Sikora & Wylegała (2026), Ornis Polonica — Territorial expansion and population increase of the breeding Great Egret Ardea alba in PolandPrimary journal article in Ornis Polonica 67:94–109. Monitoring of all known Polish breeding sites in 2020–2025 documented breeding at 31 sites and estimated 1,150–1,250 pairs in 2023–2025. The population increased 84% between 2013 and 2025; DOI/indexing metadata gives 12 August 2026 as the publication date.

Image: Aneta p — wild great egret photographed on the Vistula River near Bydgoszcz, Poland, 29 August 2024; Wikimedia Commons; representative Polish species image, not a bird from the monitored breeding colonies · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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