A Whole Host of Herons

Herons are so common to Floridians that I’m pretty sure they consider me crazy when I show up and go ga-ga over them!

But hey – these oddly beautiful birds are not regular visitors to my backyard – nor am I a regular visitor to Florida – so humor me while I share some pictures of the herons I was blessed to hang out with.

The first to greet us as we entered the wetlands was this handsome Great Blue Heron. I think he had appointed himself guardian of the gate.

You could pretty much see one of these guys every time you turned around.

Also out in abundance was the Little Blue Heron. You can see that he is smaller than the Great Blue (hence the name) and lacks the white facial feathers and the dark legs of his relative.

This fellow was quite the fisherman. Don’t you just love that gleam in his eye.

The Tri-colored Heron is one that I don’t recall seeing up close and in person before. When he is all hunched up he is harder to identify…

…but when he faces forward you can see the large white patch of feathers on his chest.

And when he stretches out his neck you can see the cool color patterns.

The smallest heron that we got to hang out with was the Green Heron.

We watched him carefully scanning the water and then snaring a teeny tiny fish.

I think his colors are incredible!

And last, but not least, a pair of bird-watching buddies from Kentucky that we happened to meet excitedly showed us the hiding place of an American Bittern – who is part of the heron family.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to wander through the wetlands, hanging out with this whole host of handsome herons! I would definitely put this on my list of places to visit again. 🙂

Published by kathydoremus

Amateur nature "photogriter." One who still marvels at majesty.

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