Great Blue Heron

The take

The statue at the edge of every Charlotte creek and pond, patient beyond reason.

How to ID it

• Blue-gray overall with a wide black stripe over the eye
• Very large, with long legs, a sinuous neck, and a thick daggerlike bill
• Wades slowly or stands statue-still, then stabs prey with a lightning-fast neck thrust; flies with the neck curled in an S

Field marks at a glance

Size

huge

Head

pale with wide black eye-stripe

Call

deep hoarse croak when flushed

Where & when

Year-round in Charlotte — best odds at four mile creek greenway, little sugar creek greenway tyvola.

Learn more

• allaboutbirds.org