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"Heron is the common name of birds of the genus Ardea. The herons are distinguished by having a long bill cleft beneath the eyes, a compressed body, long slender legs naked above the tarsal joint, three toes in front, the two outer united by a membrane, and by moderate wings. The tail is short, rounded, and composed of 10 or 12 feathers. The common heron is about three feet in length from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, builds its nest in high trees, many being sometimes on one tree. Its food consists of fish, frogs, mollusks, mice, moles, and similar small animals. It has an insatiable voracity, and digests its food with great rapidity. It haunts fresh water streams, marshes, ponds, and lakes, as also the seashore."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Heron

"Heron is the common name of birds of the genus Ardea. The herons are distinguished by having a long…

A great blue heron, commonly found in tropical areas like Florida. They belong to the order Grallatores, tribe Cultrirostres, and family Ardeida, which also includes spoonbills, storks, boatbills, night-herons, bitterns, adjutants, and ibises.

Heron

A great blue heron, commonly found in tropical areas like Florida. They belong to the order Grallatores,…

"Ardea herodias. Great Blue Heron. Of large size, and varied dark colors, not dichromatic. Back without peculiar plumes at any season, but scapulars lengthened and lanceolate; an occipital crest, two deciduous feathers of which in the breeding season are long and filamentous; long loose feathers on the lower neck. Adult: Bill yellow, more or less blackened on culmen; lores blue; iris chrome yellow; legs and feet blackish, the soles yellowish. Tibia the edge of wing chestnut-brown. Forehead and middle of crown white; sides of of crown and occipital crest black. Neck pale purplish-gray, with a mixed white, black, and rust throat-line, yielding to white on chin and cheeks. Plumes of lower neck, the breast, and belly, black, more or less interrupted with white streaks on the middle line; crissum white. Upper parts in general slaty-blue; tail the same; long scapular feathers more pearly-gray; wing-quills deepening from this color to the black primaries." Elliot Coues, 1884

Great Blue Heron

"Ardea herodias. Great Blue Heron. Of large size, and varied dark colors, not dichromatic. Back without…