Little Blue Heron

Egretta caeruleaOrder: CICONIIFORMES Family: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)

Codes: Common Name: LBHE Scientific Name: EGRCAE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 174827

Breeding Location:

Lakes, Forest edge, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps, Rivers

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Breeding Population:

Increasing, Expanding

Egg Color:

Pale blue green

Number of Eggs:

1 - 6

Incubation Days:

20 - 24

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Sticks and twigs.

Migration:

Migratory

General

Little Blue Heron: Medium-sized heron with slate-gray body and purple-blue head and neck. Eyes are yellow and bill is dark gray with black tip. Legs and feet are dark. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is initially all white, becoming peppered with dark gray as it molts to adult plumage.

Range and Habitat

Little Blue Heron: Found along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida, but is most abundant along the Gulf of Mexico; also found in the West Indies and along both Mexican coasts south to South America. Prefers freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps, and lagoons; sometimes found on marine coastlines.

Breeding and Nesting

Little Blue Heron: One to six pale blue-green eggs are laid in a flimsy stick nest, usually built 3 to 15 feet above the ground or water. Eggs are incubated for 22 to 24 days by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Little Blue Heron: Diet consists of fish, frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, and crustaceans such as fiddler crabs, crayfish, and shrimp, aquatic insects, and spiders. When swamps and marshes become dry, it eats grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and other grassland insects; forages by wading in shallow water.

Vocalization

Little Blue Heron: Squawks when alarmed. Emit various croaks and screams at nesting colonies.

Similar Species

Little Blue Heron: Reddish Egret is much larger and heavier-billed, has paler, shaggier neck, and blue-gray legs. Juvenile Snowy Egret has black legs and yellow feet.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron: Medium heron with slate-gray body and purple-blue head and neck. Eyes are yellow and bill is dark gray with black tip. Legs and feet are dark. The only dark heron species in North America in which the juvenile is white. Feeds on small crustaceans, vertebrates, and large insects.

● Song: "eh-oo-ah-eh-eh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Little Blue Heron: Diet consists of fish, frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, and crustaceans such as fiddler crabs, crayfish, and shrimp, aquatic insects, and spiders. When swamps and marshes become dry, it eats grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and other grassland insects; forages by wading in shallow water.

● Breeding & nesting: Little Blue Heron: One to six pale blue-green eggs are laid in a flimsy stick nest, usually built 3 to 15 feet above the ground or water. Eggs are incubated for 22 to 24 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Little Blue Heron: Reddish Egret is much larger and heavier-billed, has paler, shaggier neck, and blue-gray legs. Juvenile Snowy Egret has black legs and yellow feet.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with steady quick wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Little Blue Heron: Found along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida, but is most abundant along the Gulf of Mexico; also found in the West Indies and along both Mexican coasts south to South America. Prefers freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps, and lagoons; sometimes found on marine coastlines.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^PopulationIncreasing, Expanding

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight12.9 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America