Great Heron Catch And Eating A Long Eel (Heron Hunting Eel).

Great Heron Catch And Eating A Long Eel (Heron Hunting Eel).

Great blue heron:
The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether this represents a white color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species. The status of white individuals known to occur elsewhere in the Caribbean, and very rarely elsewhere in eastern North America, is unclear.

Taxonomy:
The great blue heron was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea, and Ancient Greek ἐρῳδιός (erōdios), both meaning "heron".

The great blue heron is replaced in the Old World by the very similar grey heron (Ardea cinerea), which differs in being somewhat smaller (90–98 cm (35–39 in)), with a pale gray neck and legs, lacking the browner colors that the great blue heron has there. It forms a superspecies with this and also with the cocoi heron from South America, which differs in having more extensive black on the head and a white breast and neck.

The five subspecies are:

A. h. herodias Linnaeus, 1758, most of North America, except as below
A. h. fannini Chapman, 1901, the Pacific Northwest from southern Alaska south to Washington; coastal
A. h. wardi Ridgway, 1882, Kansas and Oklahoma to northern Florida, sightings in southeastern Georgia
A. h. occidentalis Audubon, 1835, southern Florida, Caribbean islands, formerly known as a separate species, the great white heron
A. h. cognata Bangs, 1903, Galápagos Islands

Similar species:
The "great white heron" could be confused with the great egret (Ardea alba), but is larger, with yellow legs as opposed to the great egret's black legs. The reddish egret (Egretta rufescens) and little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) could be mistaken for the great blue heron, but are much smaller, and lack white on the head and yellow in the bill. In the southern reaches of its range, the great blue sometimes overlaps in range with the closely related and similarly sized cocoi heron (A. cocoi). The cocoi is distinguished by a striking white neck and solid black crown, but the duller juveniles are more easily confused. More superficially similar is the slightly smaller grey heron, which may sometimes vagrate to the northern coasts of North America. The grey heron (which occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia as the great blue heron) has very similar plumage, but has a solidly soft-gray neck. Erroneously, the great blue heron is sometimes referred to as a "crane". A heron is differentiated from a crane in flight. The crane's neck is straight and the heron's is always curved.

Distribution and habitat:
The great blue heron is found throughout most of North America, as far north as Alaska and the southern Canadian provinces in the summer. In winter, the range extends south through Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean to South America. Birds east of the Rocky Mountains in the northern part of their range are migratory and winter in the coastal areas of the Southern United States, Central America, or northern South America. From the Southern United States southwards, and on the lower Pacific coast, they are year-round residents. However, their hardiness is such that individuals often remain through cold northern winters, as well, so long as fish-bearing waters remain unfrozen (which may be the case only in flowing water such as streams, creeks, and rivers).

The great blue heron can adapt to almost any wetland habitat in its range. It may be found in numbers in fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges, or shorelines. It is quite adaptable and may be seen in heavily developed areas as long as they hold bodies of fish-bearing water.

Great blue herons rarely venture far from bodies of water, but are occasionally seen flying over upland areas. They usually nest in trees or bushes near water's edge, often on islands (which minimizes the potential for predation) or partially isolated spots.

It has been recorded as a vagrant in England,[citation needed] Greenland, Hawaii, and the Azores.

The great white heron is unique to South Florida, including Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida Keys.

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