---
title: "Reuzenreiger"
description: "Ardea goliath — Vogels. The Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/goliath-heron
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Reuzenreiger

> Ardea goliath — Vogels. The Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae.

- Scientific name: *Ardea goliath*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 3851
- Wikidata: [Q118608](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q118608)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4969](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4969)

## Names

- en: Goliath Heron
- de: Goliathreiher
- es: Garza Goliat
- fr: Héron goliath
- nl: Reuzenreiger
- pt: Garça-gigante
- pl: Czapla olbrzymia

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (1823), KE (417), BW (278), UG (244), NA (157), TZ (148), ZM (130), SN (77), ZW (76), ET (64), MZ (45), GM (44)

## Summary

The Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. It is primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller, declining numbers in Southwest and South Asia. Asian records are now very rare, but it does still known as an occasional vagrant.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_heron

## Photo

![Reuzenreiger](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/goliath-heron/medium.jpg)

Photo: rosshawkins · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/330187605

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/goliath-heron?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).