Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a common herons, egrets, and bittern found in 47 countries, weighing about 2.5 kg. The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family (Ardeidae), common near shores of open water and wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as Northwestern South America, the Caribbean, and the Galápagos Islands.
About the Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family (Ardeidae), common near shores of open water and wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as Northwestern South America, the Caribbean, and the Galápagos Islands. It is occasionally found in the Azores and is a rare vagrant to Europe. An all-white population found in South Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether these white birds are a color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
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.
What the Great Blue Heron sounds like
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in United Kingdom, France.
When to see it
The Great Blue Heron can be seen all year round, with peak activity in May. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Watch the Great Blue Heron on live cams
Browse all 118 bird cams worldwide, live and seasonal, by region and species.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Great Blue Heron?
- The great blue heron is the largest heron native to North America. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Great Blue Heron?
- The Great Blue Heron is a huge sized bird weighing about 2.5 kg.
- Where can you see a Great Blue Heron?
- The Great Blue Heron occurs in 47 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.
- What does a Great Blue Heron sound like?
- You can listen to a field recording of the Great Blue Heron on this page, contributed to xeno-canto under open licences.
- What birds look similar to a Great Blue Heron?
- The Great Blue Heron is most easily confused with the Great Egret, the Grey Heron and the Purple Heron.
Learn the Great Blue Heron for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
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