Great Blue Heron Bird

Facts about Great blue heron bird. "Scientific name for Great blue heron bird is Ardea herodias". Great blue heron bird is an Ardea type of wading bird that comes from the Ardeidae family. The Great blue heron birds are largely found near the coasts of open water and in swamps over the majority of Central America and North America, including the Galápagos and the Caribbean Islands. Great blue heron birds in the southern Canada and in the northeastern parts of the United States have the benefit of recovering from the Beaver populations, which have created a mess of meadows and swamps well-matched to foraging and nesting. The white appearance of the Great Blue Heron bird, called as the Great White Heron, is seen nearly exclusively in low sea waters along the shore of the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Florida and in the Caribbean. Where the white and dark forms overlap in Florida, in-between birds called Wurdemann's herons can be seen. They contain the body of a Great Blue Heron, but they have the white-colored neck and head of the Great White Heron.

Features of Great Blue Heron bird

Great blue heron bird is a big-size bird that is capable of attaining the body length, ranging from 38 1/4 inches to 54 inches (97.2 to 137 cm), with the wingspan that ranges from 65 3/4 inches to 79 1/8 inches (167 to 200.1 cm). Usually, they have a body mass between 74.1 pounds and 88.2 pounds (33.6 to 40 kg), with a height ranging from 45 inches to 54 inches (114.3 to 137.2 cm). The wing chord of the Great blue heron bird ranges from 17 inches to 19 13/32 inches (43.2 to 49.3 cm), with the tail length varying from 6 inches to 7 3/4 inches (15.2 to 19.7 cm). The culmen of the bird varies from 4 7/8 inches to 6 inches (12.2 to 15.2 cm) and the tarsus being measured between 6 1/4 inches and 8 5/16 inches (41.3 to 21 cm).

Prominent features of Great blue heron bird comprise red-brown thighs, slate flight feathers and a paired black and red-brown line up the flanks. The neck of the bird is rusty-gray in color, with white and black lining down the front. The Great blue heron bird have a paler head, with a white-colored face, and a pair of black color plumes running from just over their eyes to the back part of their head. The feathers on their lower part of the neck are elongated and it has plumes on the lower back at the beginning of the breeding period.

The color of the bill of the Great Blue Heron bird is dull yellowish, and will turn into an orange color momentarily at the beginning of the reproduction period, and the lower part of the legs will change to gray color, it also becomes orange at the beginning of the propagation period. Juvenile Great blue heron birds have a dull color body, with a dull blackish-gray color crown, and the side pattern only feebly defined. They do not have plumes, and they have a dull gray-yellow color bill.

Diet of Great Blue Heron bird

Great Blue Herons mostly consume anything the lies within the reachable distance. They also feed on fish, reptiles, amphibians, small creatures, pests, and other birds. The Great Blue Heron snatch smaller prey in their powerful mandibles or make use of their bills to impale bigger fish, habitually shaking them to split or relax the pointed spines earlier than swallowing them.

Behavior of Great Blue Heron bird

Hunting Great Blue Heron birds wade gradually or stand like a statue, following fish and other prey in open fields or shallow water. The Great Blue Heron bird observe for the lightning-speed thrust of the head and neck while they stab by means of their sturdy bills. Their extremely sluggish wing beats, trailing legs and tucked-in neck create a unique image during the flight.

The average lifespan of the Great Blue Heron bird ranges from 12 years to 15 years.