Great Blue Heron

Ardea herodias

Classification

Conservation Status

  • With a wingspan of up to 6.5 feet, the great blue heron is the largest heron in North America. 
  • This wading bird prefers fish that will eat almost anything and swallows its prey whole. The bird eats fish, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. 
  • Great blue herons can choke on prey that is too large to be swallowed. 
  • Herons create spectacular nesting colonies, sometimes 100 feet or higher in the trees. Individual nests are nearly 4 feet across and hundreds of nests can exist within a single colony.