Identification - A tall (up to four feet [1.2 meters]), long-legged bird with a large, gray-blue body and long, gray neck with a white, frontal stripe. The whiteish head with its long, yellow bill has a black streak over each eye that extends into plumes at the back of the head. Unlike cranes, with which it is often mistaken, the Great Blue Heron flies with its neck tucked back onto its shoulders and with slow, labored wingbeats.
Morsels - The Great Blue Heron can often be seen standing alone and motionless in the shallows waiting for a fish or other prey to move within striking distance. Then with a lightning thrust of the neck it catches the prey in its bill and swallows it whole; large prey will be speared. In southern Florida, it can be found as a pure white race known as the "Great White Heron."
