Little blue heron
Egretta caerulea
Identification Tips:
- Sexes similar
- Medium-sized long-legged long-necked wader
- Usually holds neck in an "S" curve at rest and in flight
- Bill long and pointed
- Dull green legs
Adult alternate:
- Blue-gray black-tipped bill
- Blue-gray belly, back and wings
- Chestnut head and neck
- Shaggy neck plumes
Adult basic:
- Blue-gray black-tipped bill
- Head and neck blue-gray like body
- Lacks shaggy neck plumes
Immature:
- White body plumage
- Blue-gray tips to the outer primaries visible from below when bird
is in flight
- Gray lores
- Black-tipped bill usually with blue-gray base, but occasionally
yellow or flesh
- In their first spring or first summer, immatures start gaining
the adults' dark plumage and can be mottled with blue-gray and
white.
Similar species:
Adults are similar only to Reddish Egret, which is much larger
and bigger-billed, and has a paler reddish neck, shaggier neck, and head
plumes and blue-gray legs. Immature Snowy Egrets are similar to
immature Little Blues but have black legs with a yellow stripe up
the back, yellow feet, and yellow lores, and
lack the blue-gray primary tips, and, usually, lack the
two-toned bill. Adult white morph
Reddish Egrets can be similar to immature Little Blues but
are much larger, have blue-gray legs, shaggy neck and head plumes
and a pink base to the bill. Immature white morph Reddish Egrets
can be separated by the larger bill, bluish legs, and lack of
blue-gray primary tips.