Size 50"  Our largest heron.  Grayish body, white head with a black cap and plume. 

The Great Blue Heron is a common wading bird here in Charlotte County. It is found on beaches, and docks, along fresh water ditches and ponds and generally anywhere there is water.  It nests in a rookery which can very in size from just a few nests to large groups intermixed with Great Egrets, Cormorants, Anhingas, Night Herons or others.  The white morph seen here was photographed in Grove City two years in a row.  The first year nesting in a large pine tree overlooking Oyster Creek and the following year after the tree had been felled I found it on a small Mangrove Island at the mouth of Oyster Creek about a half-mile away.  I have heard that the white morph is also in the Cape Haze area, but have not yet identified it there.  It nest here and is common in small rookeries with only other Great Blues or in large colonies with Egrets, Cormorants and others.   

 USGS Details

  | Home |