Blue heron
| Blue heron | ||||||||||||
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Blue heron ( Egretta caerulea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Egretta caerulea | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The blue heron ( Egretta caerulea ) belongs to the heron family from the order Pelecaniformes .
Appearance
The birds become 60 centimeters long, with a wingspan of one meter and a weight of 325 grams. They are medium-sized herons with a long neck and a long, pointed, blue or gray bill with a black tip. Adult birds have blue-gray plumage. The legs and feet are dark blue. During the brood the head and neck turn purple. In addition, longer decorative feathers grow there, legs and feet turn black. Young birds are white with yellow legs. As they get older, they turn increasingly blue.
distribution
The blue heron lives in swamps in the states of the USA bordering the Gulf of Mexico , in Central America , on the islands of the Caribbean and in South America to Peru and Uruguay . Individual animals migrate far north to the Canadian border after the breeding season .
Way of life
The little blue heron feeds on fish, crustaceans and insects, which it ambushes in shallow water or sitting on a branch on the bank.
It nests in colonies, often together with other herons, on trees or in bushes. 3 to 7 light blue eggs are laid.
literature
- James A. Kushlan and James A. Hancock: Herons . Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-854981-4
Web links
- Egretta caerulea in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 18 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Egretta caerulea in the Internet Bird Collection
- eNature.com - Blue Heron (English)
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Blue Heron (English)
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter - Blue Heron (English)
- Trivia about the Blue Heron (English)