Great Blue Herron
In Flight
because there are Grey Herons?
Because it’s old???
Yes, it is a Great Blue Heron.
They’re not really blue, they’re slate gray.......
Blue herons are gray, sometimes with a hint of blue. See photo of the Great Blue Heron here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_blue_heron#/media/File:GBHfish5.jpg
Be VERY careful....they will go after your eyes with that sword like beak
Been a while since a birdy ping.
My brother in law had a small pond in his back yard stocked with Koi fish. They kept disappearing until one day he spotted a blue heron standing on the roof of the shed next to the pond. I got him an artificial heron which he placed next to the pond and that kept the real one away......
The blue color does come out a little brighter on males during breeding season, but the normal color is a faded blue-grey, like old blue jeans.
I once was hunting groundhogs with my uncle. He was a few hundred yards ahead of me and wearing faded blue jeans. Up ahead, on the edge of a pond I saw him doing... Handstands? What the ...?
It was a great blue heron, stretching its wings up, getting ready to fly off. The wings looked like blue jean legs...
Damn blue herons have been eating my koi.
I’ve probably lost 20 over the past 2 years.
I get both. The grey usually have dark grey or black on the wing tips. So I’m not sure but very pretty bird.
How did it taste?
Thise grifter ducks heard your voice and thought you were there with food.
They show up where there is water. We had one hanging around the drainage pond at the ranch. At 7100’ in the mountains east of Albuquerque. Probably no other body of water for 20 miles.
Probably to differentiate it from the smaller but very similar gray heron of Europe, Asia and Africa.
It most certainly does strongly resemble a Great Blue Heron.
I see them quite often through the summer and fall, there is at least one pair that nests within a mile of my home.
The grey has strong blue undertones, and in the right light *IS* blue.
It could be a blue himon
I’ve seen blue herons along creeks in the middle of Atlanta.
Had a couple acres on Bainbridge Island, ferry ride from Seattle, years ago. Had a small spring area that I had an excavator dig a pretty large pond in. Once it filled up I drove down to Tacoma and bought Rainbow Trout from a hatchery. I bought hundreds of both 6” and 12” trout and stocked the pond with them.
I’d come home from work and a Heron would be out there fishing in my pond. BB rifle worked for awhile but the bird figured out it was a pretty harmless deterrent from 50 yds away.
Not many trout left 4 years later when I sold the place. Beautiful birds and damn good fishermen.