Great Blue Heron - Alouette River - a photo on Flickriver

            Maple Ridge, BC Canada

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 is the largest North American heron and, among all extant herons, it is surpassed only by the goliath heron (Ardea goliath) and the white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis). It has head-to-tail length of 36–54 in) a wingspan of 66–79 in, a height of 45–54 in, and a weight of 4.0–7.9 lb.

In British Columbia, adult males averaged 5.5 lb and adult females 4.7 lb In Nova Scotia and New England, adult herons of both sexes averaged 4.9 lb, while in Oregon, both sexes averaged 4.6 lb. Thus, great blue herons are roughly twice as heavy as great egrets, although only slightly taller than them, but they can weigh about half as much as a large goliath heron. 

Notable features of great blue herons include slaty (gray with a slight azure blue) flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black or slate plumes runs from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. 

The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs are gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern is only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 16.9–19.4 in tail is 6.0–7.7 in, the culmen is 4.8–6.0 in, and the tarsus is 6.2–8.3 in.

The heron's stride is around 8.7 in, almost in a straight line. Two of the three front toes are generally closer together. In a track, the front toes, as well as the back, often show the small talons.

(Wikipedia)
 
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Taken on: May 24, 2020

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Sets appears in: • Pitt Meadows/ Maple Ridge (2019-2020) • Seagulls, Ducks, Geese, Birds (Waterfowl) & Sea Life 🐚 (2016-2023)

Camera: Nikon D7500, f/6.3, 1/640 sec, 280mm (=420mm), ISO 640 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7500
Lens:	18.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-6.3
Aperture:	f/6.3
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	280mm (35mm equivalent: 420mm)
ISO:	640
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.4.1 (Windows)
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