Little Blue Heron Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesLittle Blue Heron
Adult
Smaller, long-legged heron with a daggerlike bill. Adults have a purple-maroon head and neck and a dark slaty-blue body. Bill is two-toned, with blue-gray at the base.
© Etienne Artigau🦩 / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, March 06, 2017Juvenile
Juveniles are entirely white, except for vague dusky tips to the outer primaries. Note two-toned bill.
© Chris Wood / Macaulay LibraryIca, November 13, 2017Adult
Wades in shallow wetlands or stands patiently as it stalks fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and insects.
© Matthew D. Medler / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, October 29, 2014Immature
Immature birds that are molting into adult plumage are a patchwork of white and blue.
© Alejandra Pons / Macaulay LibraryMaldonado, January 18, 2021Adult
Flies with its neck tucked in and legs trailing behind. Often appears all dark, especially from a distance and in poor light.
© Steve Kolbe / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, July 23, 2016Juvenile
Flies with slow, steady wingbeats, usually with its neck and head pulled back against the body. The dusky tips on the outer primaries of juveniles are often easier to see in flight.
© Martina Nordstrand / Macaulay LibraryNorth Carolina, August 16, 2019Juvenile
Little Blue Herons are stand-and-wait foragers, patiently watching the water with their necks extended and bills pointed downward for small fish, amphibians, or aquatic invertebrates.
© Ryan O'Donnell / Macaulay LibraryBaja California, October 11, 2017Adult
When not foraging often stands with its neck tucked, in a hunchbacked posture.
© Luke Seitz / Macaulay LibraryPuntarenas, March 19, 2017Habitat
Found in swamps, marshes, ponds, streams, lagoons, tidal flats, canals, ditches, fish hatcheries, and flooded fields.
© Oscar Johnson / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, March 18, 2017Similar SpeciesSnowy Egret
Adult
Snowy Egrets are often mistaken for juvenile Little Blue Herons, but they have an all black bill and black legs compared with the grayish bill and greenish-yellow legs of Little Blues (note that juvenile Snowy Egrets have yellowish legs). Snowies also lack the vague dusky primary-feather tips of juvenile Little Blues.
© John Sutton / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, March 20, 2016Similar SpeciesReddish Egret
Nonbreeding adult dark morph
Adult dark-morph Reddish Egrets are larger than Little Blue Herons. They have rusty-colored necks, rather than purple-blue necks like Little Blue Herons.
© James Rieman / Macaulay LibraryTexas, September 28, 2017Similar SpeciesReddish Egret
Adult breeding white morph
Compared to juvenile Little Blue Herons, white-morph Reddish Egrets have darker legs and have a pink base to the bill rather than bluish gray.
© Jason Leifester / Macaulay LibraryTexas, April 20, 2017Similar SpeciesTricolored Heron
Nonbreeding Adult
Tricolored Herons have white bellies that contrast with their blue chests unlike Little Blue Herons, which have a dark belly.
© Ryan Shaw / Macaulay LibraryYucatán, December 26, 2009Compare with Similar Species
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Species in This Family
Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns(Order: Pelecaniformes, Family: Ardeidae)
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