---
title: "Amerikaanse kleine zilverreiger"
description: "Egretta thula — Vogels. The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/snowy-egret
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Amerikaanse kleine zilverreiger

> Egretta thula — Vogels. The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron.

- Scientific name: *Egretta thula*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 180743
- Wikidata: [Q59785](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q59785)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4940](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4940)

## Names

- en: Snowy Egret
- de: Schmuckreiher
- es: Garza dedos dorados
- fr: Aigrette neigeuse
- nl: Amerikaanse kleine zilverreiger
- pt: Garça-branca-pequena
- pl: Czapla śnieżna

## Countries with the most observations

US (125903), MX (23759), BR (6253), AR (4705), CL (2126), CR (2012), CO (1599), PE (1385), EC (1295), PA (570), UY (369), NI (365)

## Summary

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, which is a diminutive of aigron, 'heron'. The species name thula is the Mapudungun term for the black-necked swan, applied to this species in error by Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782.
The snowy egret is the American counterpart to the very similar Old World little egret, which has become established in the Bahamas. At one time, the plumes of the snowy egret were in great demand as decorations for women's hats. They were hunted for these plumes and this reduced the population…

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

## Photo

![Amerikaanse kleine zilverreiger](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/snowy-egret/medium.jpg)

Photo: Irene · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189254938

## Machine access

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