Wordless Thursday: Tri-Colored and Little Blue Herons

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

Tri-colored Heron

Tri-colored Heron

Adult Little Blue Heron

The Three Most Commonly Spotted Herons Here

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons and Tri-colored Herons are all seen here in The Villages, FL.  These wading birds all eat fish, frogs, smaller aquatic animals and some insects.  Of the three types of herons mentioned here, the Great Blue is the most commonly spotted here in The Villages, and the Tri-colored Heron is the least commonly seen.

I want to wish everyone who celebrates, a very Happy Easter!  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

Tri-colored Heron and Great Egret

Little Blue Heron

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

 

 

Great Blue Heron

Tri-colored Heron

Great Blue Heron

Almost Wordless Thursday: Wading Birds

Great Egret

These photos were taken last week in The Villages, FL.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

Little Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Tri-colored Heron &  Double Crested Cormorants

Snowy Egret

 

 

 

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Great Blue Heron

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Herons

Great Blue Heron

These all were spotted here in The Villages, FL in recent days.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of that picture.  Enjoy!

 

Little Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Tri-colored Heron

Juvenile & Adult Little Blue Herons

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Adult Little Blue Heron

 

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

The juvenile Little Blue Heron is all white until nearly an adult.  Once and adult, the bird has purple-blue feathers, a grey-blue bill, and yellow-green legs and feet.  These are called herons but are actually members of the egret family of wading birds.

Juvenile Little Blue Herons closely resemble the Snowy Egret, but the difference is in the color of the bill and a lack of yellow just above the bill.  Snowy Egrets have a black bill.  Snowy Egrets also have mustard yellow-colored feet.  I took these photos here in The Villages, FL.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

 

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Adult Little Blue Heron

 

 

Older Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Adult Little Blue Heron

 

A Little Blue Heron Hunting

 

This Little Blue Heron was spotted hunting in a very shallow rainfall water retention basin that was almost empty.  This pond is in the Souliere Villas neighborhood in The Villages, FL.

We only occasionally see Little Blue Herons here.  They are a wonderful member of the egret family and start out as white juveniles.  They closely resemble Snowy Egrets but do not have bright mustard-yellow feet and do have a bluish bill when in their white plumage.  They eat fish, frogs, small tender turtles, baby alligators, aquatic snails and larger aquatic insects.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.

 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Little Blue Heron

Hooded Mergansers, herons, a Pied-billed Grebe, Florida Mottled Ducks, and a Lesser Scaup Ducks were spotted on Nov. 12, 2019 at a neighborhood park pond here in The Villages, FL.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

Florida Mottled Ducks

Drake Hooded Merganser

 

 

Hooded Merganser Ducks, Hen Lesser Scaup Duck and Pied-billed Grebe

Tri-Colored Heron and Little Blue Heron

Pied-billed Grebe

Wordless Wednesday: Little Blue Herons

Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

Sandhill Cranes and a Little Blue Heron

Sandhill Cranes

A pair of Sandhill Cranes and a Little Blue Heron were seen at two ponds here in The Villages, Florida last week.  I saw the cranes on the shore of the small pond near Live Oaks Park on Morse Blvd. near CR 466, and the Little Blue Heron was at Freedom Pointe Lakes (The larger lake).  By the way, it has been very windy on several days here so a bit of blown-in trash is evident in the pictures.  Most of our shorelines are very clean here and this is a rare occurrence.

Both of these are wading birds that eat fish, frogs, aquatic snails, larger aquatic insects, small shoreline snakes, baby waterfowl, and baby Alligators.  The cranes also will eat grains and seeds.  I love seeing these beautiful big birds here!  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of that photo.  Enjoy!

Sandhill Cranes

Little Blue Heron

Sandhill Crane

Wordless Wednesday: A Few Wading Birds

Green Heron

Please click on the thumbnail images to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

Tri-colored Heron

Wood Storks

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

 

Glossy Ibis

Great Egret

Adult Little Blue Heron