The Great Blue Heron: shore angler extraordinaire

Anyone who has been on or near the water this summer has probably seen one of these large, long-legged wading birds with blue-grey plumage along the shore of lakes or rivers. Any attempt to get a closer look is usually met with the bird flying off, perhaps vocalizing with a couple of “quocks” as it departs with its long legs in trail. This heron is very wary and binoculars are useful when trying to get a close look at a Great Blue Heron.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading shore bird of the family Ardeidae, which also includes egrets and bitterns. The heron pictured above is large, standing at a height of about four-and-a-half feet. A flying heron is easy to spot; its wingspan is almost six feet, and the long neck and trailing legs in flight give it a very distinctive silhouette.

A blue heron is mainly a piscivore, or fish eater. It will also eat reptiles and amphibians, crustaceans, insects and small mammals such as mice and voles. A heron will stand motionless, its long neck coiled in an “S” shape, along the shore, waiting for prey to swim in range which it will then strike with its bill and swallow whole. On occasion, a great blue heron has been observed choking due to taking a fish that was too big to swallow.

Blue herons cause concern to people who have fish hatcheries or koi ponds due to their appetite for fish. In some cases, netting or heron decoys may help in preventing predation. Herons are protected nationally by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and should not be harmed.