He could have added that they often stand still long enough to find them with binoculars. These common herons are found over much of the North American continent from Southern Canada through Mexico. I first remember watching a Great Blue Heron flying with slow, easy wing beats across the evening sky in Freeville, New York. I got closer looks at them from the observation windows at Cornell University's Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary.
Here, in Colorado, I lived for six years at the edge of Riverbend Ponds where these beautiful birds were a part of my everyday viewing in the warm season. I love to watch a heron as it wades slowly through the shallow water looking for food. It picks up one foot slowly, taking care not to disturb the water, then cautiously moves it forward and sets it down just as slowly without creating a ripple. It may stand for a long time in a favorite spot, peering into the water, then swiftly dart its long neck forward to spear a fish with its long, sharp beak. Fish are swallowed whole, head first. In addition to fish, Great Blues eat frogs, crawfish, lizzards, snakes, small birds, rodents and insects.
Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) have a dark, blue-gray body, a long brown neck with a streak of white down the front, and a white face. Adults have black eye stripes that end in black crest feathers. (The bird in the photo is a young bird with the dark spot on top of its head instead of the eye stripes and crest.) Long slender legs are built for wading. Wing spans can reach six feet. When one of these birds spreads its wings it resembles a great, gray cloak opening wide. They lift into the air with slow, powerful strokes and fly with long necks pulled back into an S curve. Long legs trail out behind. Sandhill Cranes are nearly the same size, but fly with necks stretched out straight.
Generally, Great Blue Herons nest in colonies (known as a heronry), often in large trees. The pair builds a platform of large sticks, then lines it with twigs, leaves, mosses or grasses. The male collects material and carries it to the female, who builds the nest. Often, many nests are built in one tree. In the cottonwood in this photo, I counted 12 nests, and there were two more trees nearby that were equally populated. The female lays 3-6 light bluish-green eggs and parents take turns incubating the eggs for 28 days. Both parents feed their young. Birds that survive their first migration (as far as northen South America and back) and become mature, may live for 15 years.
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