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Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea Garza Azul,
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Photo: G. Beaton
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IDENTIFICATION: The Little Blue Heron has several radically different plumages. The adult is slate-blue, with a purplish tinge to the head and neck. The bill is two-colored: pinkish-gray toward the base, with a dark tip. The immature bird in the first year of life is pure white---like most egret species---but with greenish legs, and a gray bill with a dark tip. Immature birds molting into adult plumage are blotched, with big patches of white and blue. Length: 56-74 cm.; weight: 352 g. VOICE: Squawks when disturbed, but usually silent away from nesting colonies. Audio (M. Oberle). HABITAT: Fresh and salt water ponds, wetlands, canals, mangrove swamps, estuaries, lagoons, and shallow coastal waters. HABITS: The Little Blue Heron usually forages slowly: it walks a short distance through shallow water, then stands still in one place, sometimes twisting its neck slowly for a better view of potential prey. It feeds on crabs, crayfish, insects, other invertebrates, small fish, lizards, and amphibians. Early in the year as the breeding season begins, the male displays by pointing its bill toward the sky and bending its neck back as he crouches down. Pair formation is marked by mutual preening, neck rubbing, and bill clapping. Both sexes participate in building a stick nest in a treetop colony near water. The female lays 3-5 blue-green eggs. Incubation lasts 22-24 days. The chicks start to crawl around the nest at about two weeks of age, using their feet and bills to pull themselves along. They fledge about 35 days after hatching, but the adults feed them for another three weeks after that. If food supplies are low, the younger chicks in the clutch may die of starvation. In the non-breeding season, the Little Blue Heron will fly considerable distances to roost in safe trees at night with other heron species. In addition to the local breeding population, Little Blue Herons from North America migrate to the Caribbean in winter. Little Blue Herons banded as far away as Mississippi and New Jersey have been recovered in Puerto Rico. STATUS AND CONSERVATION: Common, permanent resident of Puerto Rico, with the population increasing in winter as migrants arrive from North America. Destruction and pollution of mangrove swamps and other wetlands have decreased habitat for this species. Because of its dark plumage, this species was not hunted for its feathers a century ago, as were other egret and heron species. However, it was hunted for food in Puerto Rico. RANGE: Breeds in the Greater Antilles, the Virgin Islands, Antigua, and the Bahamas; and along both coasts of North America from southern Maine and southern California, south through Central America to Peru and Uruguay. A regular site to find this species is at Parque Centrals boardwalk along the Martin Peña canal in San Juan. TAXONOMY: CICONIIFORMES; ARDEIDAE |
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Photo: A. Sánchez Muñoz
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Photo: G. Beaton
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