Photographs and descriptions of Florida's Herons and Egrets. A heron is differentiated from a crane in flight. Tri-colored Herons and Great Blue Herons make their home on the lovely little Lake Paradise here in The Villages, FL. It is a large heron although smaller than the great blue heron and great egret. They can be found all over North America, with many migrating to Colorado in the spring, returning to the same nesting site year after year. The Tricolored Heron is a sleek and slender heron adorned in blue-gray, lavender, and white. This fairly small heron wades through coastal waters in search of small fish, often running and stopping with quick turns and starts, as if dancing in a ballet. I very rarely see a Green Heron, and have not seen any Black or Yellow Crowned Night Herons here in this community.… Tricolored Heron: Medium heron, blue-gray upperparts, head, neck, wings, paler rump, white stripe on foreneck, white belly. I took these pictures mostly from Swartz Park. The Tri-colored Herons are steel grey, cream, and have maroon highlights on the upper… The Tri-colored Heron was out successfully fishing for… The crane's neck is straight and the heron's is always curved. Great Blue or Tri-Colored Heron? The Great Blue Heron was perched on the top of a neighboring residential fishing dock gazebo. More info from wikipedia The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near … This small private residential lake often hosts a few of the large wading birds. In breeding plumage, they have long blue filamentous plumes on the head and neck, and buff ones on the back. Tri-colored Herons and Great Blue Herons make their home on the lovely little Lake Paradise here in The Villages, FL. Great blue herons (Ardea herodias) are large birds that stand up to 4 feet high and weigh up to 8 pounds, with a wingspan of 7 feet. Male and female blue herons look identical from a distance and are usually indistinguishable unless seen in a breeding pair. This bird gives the general impression of being tall and thin: its wings, neck, bill, and legs are long. The great blue heron is the largest heron species in North America. As the name suggests, it displays a variety of colors in its plumage. On the southeastern coastal plain, the Tricolored Heron is a characteristic bird of quiet shallow waters. Whether poised at a river bend or cruising the coastline with slow, deep wingbeats, the Great Blue Heron is a majestic sight. A Great Blue Heron was spotted along with a lovely Tri-colored Heron, at the tiny neighborhood Swartz Park on Lake Paradise, in The Villages, Florida, on Tuesday evening (9/20/16) at about 5:30PM. The grey heron (which occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia as the great blue heron) has very similar plumage, but has a solidly soft-gray neck. The Great Blue Heron was perched on the top of a neighboring residential fishing dock gazebo. BirdForum is the net's largest birding community, dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE! The belly is white. This stately heron with its subtle blue-gray plumage often stands motionless as it scans for prey or wades belly deep with long, deliberate steps. Similar looking birds to Great Blue Heron: Little Blue Heron Adult, Tricolored Heron Nonbreeding adult, Reddish Egret Nonbreeding adult dark morph, Great Egret Adult, Sandhill Crane Adult ... Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons.