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Great blue heron: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Ardea herodias

Photos

Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) standing in shallow water with its neck fully extended, surrounded by tall green marsh grass at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)
Great blue heron
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)
Great blue heron
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias).
Platte River
Illustration of a great blue heron, Ardea herodias, showing a tall wading bird with long legs, a slender neck, a sharp beak, and blue-gray plumage.
Illustrations of eight bird heads, each showing a different bill shape adapted for feeding: a hooked bill for tearing flesh on a red-tailed hawk, a cone-shaped bill for cracking seeds on a northern cardinal, a flat bill for catching fish on a roseate spoonbill, a spear-like bill for jabbing prey on a great blue heron, a chisel-like bill for digging insects on a northern flicker, a large pouch bill for scooping fish on a brown pelican, a narrow bill with toothlike edges for catching fish on a hoo
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