Little Blue Heron - BirdForum Opus

Adult
Photo © by David Roach
Broward County Park, South Florida

Egretta caerulea

Identification

Height 51–76 cm (20-30 in)
Ws. 102 cm
Weight 325 g

Sexes similar

Breeding Adult

Juvenile, First Spring
Photo © by bobsofpa
Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, USA, April 2008

• Blue-grey body
• Purplish head and neck
• Long blue plumes
• Dark blue legs and feet

Non-breeding Adult

Immature
Photo © by Kadawe
Gloucester, Massachusetts, July 2016

• Dark blue head and neck
• Paler legs

Immature

Flight
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Brazos Bend State Park, Texas, USA, 20 April 2021

• All white except for dark wing tips and have
• Yellowish or greenish legs

Gradually acquire blue plumage as they mature. Will usually start the process during their first year of life and be completed when they are a little more than 1 year old.

Similar species

For the adult, the two-toned bill helps separating from Reddish Egret. The white juvenile can be mistaken for Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret and Little Egret.

Distribution

Found along east coast north to Massachusetts, along the Mississippi north to Missouri, and to about 150 miles north of the Gulf Coast. Regularly found 300 miles north of breeding range. Rare vagrant north of that.

Occurs throughout the West Indies and in Mexico breeds on both coasts and south to Panama. In South America ranges south to northern Chile in the west and Uruguay in the east.

Northern birds migrate south to winter in Florida, the West Indies and South America.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Swamps, flooded grasslands and lagoons, also coastal habitats in some areas.

Behaviour

Breeding

They nest in colonies, often with other herons, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. The clutch consists of 3-7 light blue eggs.

Diet

Their diet consists of slow moving, bottom feeding shellfish, crustaceans and insects such as dragonflies.

Gallery

Click on photo for larger image

• 

  Photo © by bhowdy
  Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, South Newport, Georgia, USA, June 2008

• 

  Juvenile
  Photo © by Waltbulmer
  Bozman Maryland county, October 2018

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Rodgers Jr., J. A. and H. T. Smith (2020). Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.libher.01

1. Wikipedia
2. BF Member observations
3. Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Little Blue Heron. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Little_Blue_Heron

External Links

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