Nankeen Night Heron

Scientific Name: Nycticorax caledonicus

Population Estimate: 110K - 1.1M

Range / Habitat: Inland wetlands and coastal areas throughout Australia except the arid inland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia.

Field Notes: Stocky, rufous heron with white underparts and a black cap. As typical with herons, the juvenile form is completely streaked brown and white as in the lower photo. Black-crowned Night Heron (which only overlaps in Indonesia and the Philippines) has dark grey wings and back. 

Personal Notes: Seen at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Also known as Rufous Night Heron.

White-faced Heron

Scientific Name: Egretta novaehollandiae

Population Estimate: 25K - 1M

Range / Habitat: Year-round in a variety of wet coastal and inland environments throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, the islands of the sub-Antarctic, and Australia. 

Field Notes: Slim blue-grey heron with yellow legs and white face and neck. Bill black. Plumes apparent during breeding season. 

Personal Notes: Seen in Napier area. Self-introduced to New Zealand in the 1940s. Subsequently seen in Australia.

Western Cattle Egret

Scientific Name: Bubulcus ibis

Population Estimate: 3.8M to 7.6M

Range / Habitat: Found throughout most of the US, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Preferred habitat is in fields, near cattle. Rarely seen near the water.

Field Notes: Stocky white heron with sturdy yellow bill and dark legs. Readily distinguished from other white herons by habitat. Great Egret much larger with elongated neck. Snowy Egret slimmer with black bill and yellow feet.

Personal Notes:

Little Blue Heron

Scientific Name: Egretta caerulea

Population Estimate: 300K to 450K

Range / Habitat: From southeastern US through Mexico, Central American and into northern South America in marsh and costal areas.

Field Notes: Small, active heron. Grey-blue throughout with head and neck darker, occasionally more purple or reddish (as in the top photo). Eyes yellow, bill grey with distal portion black. Legs and feet greenish. Great Blue Heron much larger. Tricoloured Heron is similar size but has distinctive white belly and rump. Juvenile is entirely white but differentiated from the Snowy Egret by its pale green legs. Reddish Egret with distinctly cinnamon head and neck, white eyes, pink base to bill, and grey legs and feet.

Personal Notes:

Snowy Egret

Scientific Name: Egretta thula

Population Estimate: 400K to 1.4M

Range / Habitat: Year round in South America and coastal areas to the north. Summers they move up into the United States and in winter retreat into Mexico and Central America. Nearly always found near water.

Field Notes: Slight white heron with fine, wispy feathers and dark bill. The black legs with yellow feet are unmistakable. Great Egret is larger with yellow bill. Cattle Egret is stocky, in different habitat, with yellow bill and dark feet.

Personal Notes: We loved the top photo as the long-fine feathers got caught in the wind....

Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Scientific Name: Nyctanassa violacea

Population Estimate: 76K-160K

Range / Habitat: Summer in eastern US, more commonly in the south. Year-round resident of costal Mexico and Central America down into parts of South America. Found in mangrove swamps, salt marshes, freshwater lakes, and other wetland areas.

Field Notes: Medium-sized, stocky heron with black face and bill, white cheek patch and yellowish crown stripe. Body grey and legs yellow. Black-crowned Night-heron all white underneath, including neck. Juvenile (lower photo) grey-brown with spots on wings and indistinct streaking on chest.

Personal Notes:

Bare-throated Tiger-heron

Scientific Name: Tigrisoma mexicanum

Population Estimate: 50K to 500K

Range / Habitat: Freshwater and mangrove habitats from both slopes of Mexico down through Central America.

Field Notes: Large, stocky, solitary heron with grey face, black cap, yellow throat, and intricately patterned neck and back. Juveniles have bolder pattern, more cinnamon coloring. Males have a booming roar.

Tricolored Heron

Scientific Name: Egretta tricolor

Population Estimate: 290K

Range / Habitat: Year-round in marine intertidal areas, mangrove swamps, inland wetlands of costal Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic coast of southeastern US, Pacific coast of Mexico, Caribbean islands, and northern coast of South America. Some birds will winter inland in central Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized, slender heron. Distinctive purple neck and head, blue body, white belly. White plume on back of head during breeding season. Little Blue Heron similar color and size but lacks white belly. Great Blue Heron much larger.

Personal Notes: Seen as part of amazing birding along the Rio Cuale in Puerto Vallarta. Later seen as a "native" among several exotics at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Boat-billed Heron

Scientific Name: Cochlearius cochlearius

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Location of Sighting: San Blas, Mexico

Date of Sighting: January, 2010

Notes: Nocturnal heron with remarkably large bill.

Little Egret

Scientific Name: Egretta garzetta

Population Estimate: 640K - 3.1M

Range / Habitat: Europe, Africa, and most of Asia except the southeast

Field Notes: Its plumage is all white. The subspecies garzetta has long black legs with yellow feet and a slim black bill. In the breeding season, the adult has two long nape plumes and gauzy plumes on the back and breast, and the bare skin between the bill and eyes becomes red or blue. Juveniles are similar to non-breeding adults but have greenish-black legs and duller yellow feet. has yellow feet and a bare patch of grey-green skin between the bill and eyes.

Personal Notes:

Black-crowned Night-heron

Scientific Name: Nycticorax nycticorax

Population Estimate: 510K - 3.6M

Range / Habitat: With a range that spans five continents, including much of North America, the Black-crowned Night-Heron is the most widespread heron in the world.

Field Notes: They have a black crown and back with the remainder of the body white or grey, red eyes, and short yellow legs. They have pale grey wings and white under parts. Two or three long white plumes, erected in greeting and courtship displays, extend from the back of the head. The sexes are similar in appearance although the males are slightly larger. Black-crowned Night Herons do not fit the typical body form of the heron family. They are relatively stocky with shorter bills, legs, and necks than their more familiar cousins, the egrets and "day" herons. Their resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting they extend their necks and look more like other wading birds.  

Personal Notes

Great Blue Heron

Scientific Name: Ardea herodias

Range / Habitat: The Great Blue Heron is found throughout most of North America, as far north as Alaska and the southern Canadian provinces. The range extends south through Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean to South America.

Field Notes: Very large gray-blue wader. It is long legged and long necked. It is approximately four feet tall or forty-six inches (one hundred seventeen centimeters) with a wingspan of six to seven feet. The bird is about seventy-two inches wide (one hundred eighty-three centimeters). It has a blue-gray color on its belly, body, and wings. The great blue heron is not very blue. The bird's bill is yellow, long, thick, and sharp. The bird's shoulder is black. The bird's back is mainly a slate-gray color. It has a brownish-buff colored neck with a black being a border. White is the color in front of its neck with a vertical streak that is black. The bird's head is white with a black stripe above its eye. The heron weighs anywhere from five to eight pounds (two to three kilograms). A male and female heron generally have the same description.

Personal Notes:

 

Grey Heron

Scientific Name: Ardea cinerea

Order: Ciconiiformes

Population Estimate: 800K - 3.7M

Location (Date) of Sighting: Venice (November 2009) top photo, and Amsterdam (July 2009) bottom photo

Notes: This bird has a wide distribution throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. The juvenile coloring (bottom photo) is nearly identical in appearance to the Great Blue Heron but with non-overlapping distributions. The adult coloring (top photo) is distinct.

Great White Egret

Scientific Name: Casmerodius albus

Population Estimate: 550K - 2.2M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Worldwide distribution near water.

Field Notes: Large white heron with yellow bill and black legs. White morph of Great Blue Heron has heavier, less uniformly yellow bill and pale legs. Snowy Egret is smaller with black bill and yellow feet. Cattle Egret found primarily in fields and is smaller with stockier bill.

Personal Notes: Some sources differentiate the Great Egret and Eastern Great Egret, the latter being found in SE Asia and Australia.

Green Heron

Scientific Name: Butorides virescens

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range: Summers throughout the eastern US. Year-round in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

Field Notes: Small, stocky heron with yellow legs and dark green cap. The adult (lower photo) has solid rufous breast whereas the juvenile (upper photo) has a streaked breast.

Personal Notes: A favorite of ours at the Minnesota Arboretum. We were excited to find it down in Mexico as well.