Poster Great Blue Heron on the Beach

"Great Blue Heron on the Beach" by Catherine Sherman. An adult great blue heron wades in the surf of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The heron is keeping his eye on a fisherman, off camera, who is casting his line into the waves. The great blue heron(Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It's the largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, dagger-like bill. Despite their impressive size, reaching to four and a half feet tall, Great Blue Herons weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones—a feature all birds share. Great Blue Herons are found in saltwater and freshwater habitats, from open coasts, marshes, sloughs, riverbanks, and lakes to backyard goldfish ponds. They also forage in grasslands and agricultural fields. Breeding birds gather in colonies or “heronries” to build stick nests high off the ground.