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NPS.gov / Park Home / Learn About the Park / Nature / Animals / Birds / Waterbirds
Egrets, Bitterns, and Herons are long-legged, long-billed freshwater and coastal birds wading birds that make up the family of Ardeidae. They can be found in wetlands throughout the world where they search for fish, crabs, and occassionally frogs and small mammals. Birds in this family have long beaks which allow them to spear a fish with great speed.
NPS Photo/A. Cook Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)• The Great Blue Heron is the most common and largest of North American herons• They live in both freshwater and saltwater habitats • Great Blue Herons love to eat anything within striking distance like fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and other birds 
NPS/Intern Tristan Thomas Identification Information:• Size: Goose sized or larger (Large)• Color: They appear blue/gray from a distance and have a black stripe over their eye. 
NPS Photo Green Heron (Butorides virescens)• Green Herons occasionally catch their food by creating fishing lures out of bread crusts, insects, and feathers• Likes to live and nest around swamps, marshes, lakes, ponds, and other wet habitats with trees and shrubs • To find a mate, male herons perform courtship displays by stretching their necks, snapping their beaks, doing fancy wing flapping, and making loud calls 
NPS/Intern Tristan Thomas Identification Information:• Size: About the size of an American Crow• Color: deep green on the back with a brown breast and neck, wings are a dark gray
All of the above information is an abbreviated version of information gathered from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Please visit their website for more in-depth bird information.
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Last updated: September 13, 2019