Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias, Linnaeus
Octavo edition, plate 369

“The principal food of the Great Blue Heron is fish of all kinds; but it also devours frogs, lizards, snakes, and birds, as well as small quadrupeds, such as shrews, meadow-mice, and young rats, all of which I have found in its stomach. . . . While on the St. John’s river in East Florida, I shot one of these birds, and on opening it on board, found in its stomach a fine perch, quite fresh. . . . The fish, when cooked, I found excellent, as did Lieutenant Piercy and my assistant Mr. Ward.”

John James Audubon, Birds of America (New York: J.J. Audubon; Philadelphia: J. B. Chevalier, 1840-1844), vol. 6, p. 126.

View bird in National Audubon Society FIeld Guide to North American Birds.

A specimen of this species, collected by Audubon, is housed within the collections of the Natural History Museum in London.