Great Blue Heron

Welcome to this week’s Wildlife of the Week!

Our species this week is the Great Blue Heron!

Ardea herodias

This week's Wildlife of the Week is one that is easy to find on the refuge, both because it's a common bird here and it's very large and conspicuous.

The Great Blue Heron is the largest heron in North America, standing close to 5 feet tall with a wingspan up to 6.5 feet and weighing 4 to 8 pounds.

They have slaty gray flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black or slate plumes runs from just above the eye to the back of the head.

The bill is dull yellow, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season.

They are found in large numbers in marshes, swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges and ponds. They tolerate the presence of people and may be seen in heavily developed areas as long as there is water with prey nearby. Fish make up the majority of their diet, but they will eat almost anything including salamanders, turtles, snakes, rodents, and other small birds. Great Blue Herons nest in large colonies called rookeries, often found in trees around 20 to 60 feet high. Often these birds are relatively quiet, but rookeries are quite noisy, and the sound of a Great Blue is described as a cranky squawk.

The great blue herons in the photos were in White Springs and near the Tennessee River. (Photos by Tom Ress)