 The purple heron usually breeds in colonies but sometimes the nests are solitary. It sometimes associates with other species such as the goliath heron (Ardea goliath) or grey heron at multi-species nesting colonies. The site chosen is generally in reed beds, canebrakes or low bushes close to large lakes or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky nest of dead reeds, sticks or whatever is available, carelessly pulling the material together. The eggs are bluish-green, averaging 56 by 45 mm (2.20 by 1.77 in). The clutch is usually four or five eggs, with occasionally seven or eight eggs being laid, though these large clutches may have resulted from two females laying in the same nest. The eggs are laid at intervals of three days, and incubation may begin with the first egg, or start when the clutch is complete. Both parents share the incubation, which lasts between 24 and 28 days, and the care of the young. When an adult brings food, its beak is dragged down by the chicks and it regurgitates food from the crop onto the nest, or the young may take food directly from the beak. The young fledge at about six weeks and become independent at two months. They then disperse widely.
