The Great Blue Heron!

The great Blue Heron is the largest of the North American herons. In flight, the Blue Heron makes a tight s-curve with it's neck, therefore making them easy to be recognized. The Blue Heron has a blue-grayish appearance from a distance, there are also a subspecies of a pure white heron down in the southern coastal area of Florida.

The Blue Heron can be found in both freshwater and saltwater habitats. The Blue Heron is also known to forage in agricultural areas and grasslands. They can be found by lakes, riverbanks, marinas and beaches. The Blue Heron can be found around any type of water that satisfies their survival needs.

Did you know that a Great Blue Heron can reach the speed of between twenty to thirty miles per hour in flight?

The Blue Herons participate in partial migration. The Blue Herons in the northern part of the habitat migrate down south, sometimes as far as The Caribbean. The Blue Herons in Southern Florida usually does not participate in this migration. They usually just stay where they are.

The Blue Heron males are known to gather the materials (sticks, grass, etc.) and bring the materials back to the female herons. The Blue Heron females then uses the material to build the nest. The construction of these nests can take between three days or up to two weeks. The nests often are found in trees, but they can be found on bushes, on structures, or on the ground. The Blue Herons usually nests in colonies. A single colony can consist of five hundred or more individual heron nests. The male herons are known to settle down on the nesting sites and wait for passing by female herons to come around so they can breed.

The Great Blue Heron females can lay up to 2-7 eggs. Not only does the female heron protect them but so does the male herons. The Blue Herons incubates their eggs usually from 26-29 days. Once a chick is hatched, it is usually able to survive on it's own at two months of age.

The Blue Heron is known for their statue like stances. They stand in statue like stances in order to hunt for prey. Blue herons are also found wading slowly in the water in search for prey as well. The Blue Heron has lightning speed reflexes that allows them to hunt their prey.

The Blue Heron is known to hunt alone. The remarkable bird is known to hunt a variety of animals.

• Fish
• Small mammals
• Reptiles
• Insects
• Amphibians
• Birds

The Great White Heron is a subspecies of the Blue Heron. The Great White Heron can be found in The Caribbean, the shallow marinas of southern Florida and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Found between the darker and lighter herons are known as the Wurdemann's Herons. They are known to have the body of the Blue Heron, but with the neck and the head of the White Heron.