Great-blue Heron (Ardea Herodias):
The great blue heron is a large wading bird found throughout all of North America, as well as Central America and the Caribbean. They usually inhabit the shores of open water or wetlands. Their diet primarily consists of small fish, although they may also eat crabs, shrimp, rodents and other small mammals, reptiles, and small birds. Great blue herons locate their food by sight and spear their prey with their long, sharp bill. Herons usually swallow their prey whole and as a result; great blue herons are known to choke on prey that was too large. Herons tend to breed in colonies which can range anywhere from 5 to 500 nests, and are on trees close to lakes and other wetlands. Females may birth three to 5 pale blue eggs. The great blue heron is a large bird and so has very few predators in its adult life. However, predators of the heron eggs include crows, hawks, black bears and raccoons.
Interestingly, there is a specific subspecies of great blue heron that has white plumage. This bird is named the great white heron, and was once thought to be a different species. These birds live only in south Florida and the Caribbean. Another interesting fact is that males usually incubate the female’s eggs for up to 11 hours each day, while females incubate for the remainder of the day. The eggs are left without incubation for 6 minutes every hour.
Great-Blue Heron