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HERON, common name for any tall wading bird of the family Ardeidae of the order Ciconiiformes, found in wet areas (a few species in upland grassy areas) in all temperate and tropical parts of the world. Included among the herons are several groups of birds more commonly known as bitterns, boatbills, and egrets. Twenty-two species of herons breed in the Americas. One of the best known is the great blue heron, Ardea herodias, which is widely distributed in North America and winters as far south as northern South America. This bird is about 117 cm (about 46 in) long and has a wingspan of about 1.8 m (about 6 ft). Above it is a bluish gray; the belly is black. Its head is white, with a black stripe along the sides of the crown; in the breeding season this stripe extends to elongated black plumes. The neck is gray, with a central line of black spots down the front edge. The bill is dull yellowish and the legs and feet are blackish. An all-white, egretlike color phase called the great white heron occurs in Florida and the Caribbean. The gray heron, A. cinerea, is widely distributed in the Old World. It closely resembles the great blue heron, but is smaller (about 91 cm/ about 36 in), and paler in color. Even more widely distributed is the green-backed heron, Butoridesstriatus, which has many subspecies in the Old World as well as in the Americas. The North American subspecies are about 46 cm (about 18 in) long, with shiny dark green backs mixed with bluish gray, deep chestnut face and neck, white belly, and greenish-black crown feathers, which can be erected into a shaggy crest. |