Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
The great blue heron is the largest heron native to North America. Among all extant herons, it is surpassed in size only by the Goliath heron (Ardea goliath) and the White-bellied heron (Ardea insignis). It exhibits a minor degree of sexual dimorphism; males are slightly larger than females, but otherwise the sexes are not easily outwardly distinguishable. It has a head-to-tail length of 91–137 cm (36–54 in), a wingspan of 167–201 cm (66–79 in), a height of 115–138 cm (45–54 in), and a weight of 1.82–3.6 kg (4.0–7.9 lb). In British Columbia, adult males averaged 2.48 kg (5.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Purple Heron
Ardea purpurea
The purple heron is a large bird, 78–97 cm (31–38 in) in length with a standing height from 70 to 94 cm (28 to 37 in) and a 120–152 cm (47–60 in) wingspan. However, it is slender for its size, weighing only 0.5 to 1.35 kg (1.1 to 3.0 lb). It is somewhat smaller than the grey heron, from which it can be distinguished by its darker reddish-brown plumage, and, in adults, its darker grey back. Adults have the forehead and the crown of the head black, with a dark stripe down the back of the neck that terminates in a slender, dangling crest.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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