Little Blue Heron

About the Little Blue Heron

The Little Blue Heron is a study in slate - a smallish, trim heron in deep blue-gray with a maroon-purple neck and a two-toned bill, pale blue-gray dipped in black. But the young bird is the famous trick: first-year Little Blues are entirely WHITE, routinely mistaken for Snowy Egrets. The greenish legs and that two-toned bill give them away, and second-year birds molt into a blotchy blue-and-white "calico" that is unmistakable.

This is the quiet member of the heron family - no dashing, no canopy feeding, just a slow, deliberate stalk along the edge of still water, picking off small fish, crawfish, and frogs. The white youngsters often feed among egret flocks, apparently gaining both camouflage and safety in the crowd.

In Texas, Little Blue Herons are year-round residents of the coastal plain and spring-through-fall birds at inland ponds and marshes, quietly working the shaded margins while the flashier egrets take the open water.