Great Blue Heron

Found throughout most of North America, the Great Blue Heron stands about four feet tall and sports a six-foot wingspan. This blue-gray wading bird breeds in tall trees near water, where it stands quietly in the shallows and hunts among the reeds and weeds for most any moving thing that will fit down its throat.

It often nests in colonies of some 150 nests per colony. The bulky nest holds one clutch each year of three to six pale blue eggs, which hatch 28 days after laying, one per day. Both parents feed the competitive young, vomiting their catch into the large beaks of rapidly growing chicks.

Adult herons have few predators, but nestlings and eggs are taken by vultures, hawks, bears, and raccoons. This heron was hunting its breakfast nearby in Sheffield.