Check your answers using a field guide. They are tall, with long curved necks and long pointed beaks. Discuss with them the differences in their beaks and feet. How are beaks an example of an . The Great Blue Heron has especially long legs to help it hunt in deeper water. This bird has greyish blue feathers on its body, a white head with a black stripe on each side, a long neck and long legs. This species of heron lives in North America, from southern Canada to Mexico. Great Blue Herons are a large species of aquatic bird. Great blue herons have large wings and can fly up to 55 kilometres per hour. The Great Blue Heron has a blue-grey colour on its belly, bod and wings. Special Adaptations: 1. Flying insects can be snatched from the air with the beak or used in prodding debris. It is approximately four feet tall or forty-six inches (117 centimetres) with a wingspan of six to seven feet. The most important function of a bird bill is feeding, and it is shaped according to what a bird eats. 0 0 0 Great blue herons' size (3.2 to 4.5 feet) and wide wingspan (5.5 to 6.6 feet) make them a joy to see in flight. It has a long, yellow-orange beak and displays brighter feathers during mating season. They exhibit very little sexual dimorphism in size. All herons have large beaks with sharp points for spearing fish. The legs are long and stilt like to help keep the herons body out of the water while it wades around looking for prey. They can cruise at some 20 to 30 miles an hour.

_____ _____ Did you ever wonder why there are so many types of bird beaks (scientists call them bills)? The Great Blue Heron has long legs and a long neck. 2. The Great Blue Heron has a special vertebrae in its neck that allows it to curve into an "S" shape. The beak is long and dagger like, adapted to spearing prey in the water. We wear snowshoes to expand the surface area of our feet when we walk on snow. Great Blue Heron (Courtesy NEBRASKAland Magazine/NGPC) How are they different? Great Blue Herons are very tall and stand 3 to 4.5 feet high. In flight, the bird looks huge, with a six-foot wingspan. If you want to learn more about birds, you may want to pay attention to bill shapes! They may move slowly, but Great Blue Herons can strike like lightning to grab a fish or snap up a gopher. Whether poised at a river bend or cruising the coastline with slow, deep wingbeats, the Great Blue Heron is a majestic sight. What do you think each one eats, bases on the shape of their beak? 2. Herons have adapted in many ways. 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. Inferring In Data Table 2 on page 134 consider the adaptations of the birds listed and then describe their likely habitat. Woodpecker Common snipe Purple martin Cardinal Great horned owl Osprey Figure 1 (Diagrams are drawn in approximate, not exact, scale.) They stand still, patiently for a long time in shallow water waiting for their prey, then stab it with their extremely sharp beak. The great blue heron is the largest heron in North America and stands about one metre tall. The Great Blue Heron is about seventy-two inches wide (183 centimetres). Beaks are also utilized to stir the water and attract fish via an opening and closing movement. Though their name has “blue” in it, they are actually more of a slate gray color. The heron and the egret find their long, broad, pointed beaks useful when hunting fish, frogs, crustaceans, and other small animals that live in and around water.