Little Blue Heron

• biologíaThe young fledge wholly white and take on the adult's characteristic blue-grey gradually over their first year.
• It changes colour completely as it matures: it hatches white and moults to slate blue, passing through a mottled intermediate stage that ornithologists call "calico".
• Its resemblance as a juvenile to the snowy egret is no coincidence: they are close relatives within the genus Egretta.
• Hybridisation with the cattle egret has been documented in North Dakota.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Shallow fresh, brackish and salt water: marshes, swamps, rice fields, pools and shorelines. The largest breeding colonies are in coastal areas, but it prefers to feed in freshwater lakes, marshes and streams. It nests in cypress, willow, maple, black mangrove and palmetto

Birth weight

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Size at birth

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Sexual maturity

The chicks become independent early: they need little adult care from 19 days on

Gestation / incubation

22-24 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

Clutch size varies by region. It nests in trees, in mixed colonies with other species, and in large heronries it tends to occupy the edges

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Audubon Field Guide; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Florida Natural Areas Inventory; Rodgers y Smith 1995, The Birds of North America

Best time: All year round in the south-eastern United States and the American tropics