By Penny Ellison
The largest heron in North America is the great blue heron and Kiawah is home to
many of them. These hardy birds thrive in all types of water environments, including our
marshes. They are huge birds with gray feathers and a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet when
fully grown. Despite their size, they weigh only 5-6 pounds. They have massive bills
and a black crown stripe on their whitish heads. They have unusual soft feathers on
their chest that continually grow. They use their middle toes to comb these down-like
feathers, holding them to stroke and clean the rest of their body.
Great blue herons are indiscriminate hunters with good night vision that allows them to
hunt by day or night. They eat a wide variety of other marsh dwellers, foraging mostly by
standing still or walking very slowly in shallow water, waiting for fish to swim nearby.
Thanks to specially shaped neck vertebrae, they can quickly strike their prey, even from
a distance. They subsist on a diet of mostly fish, but also will eat frogs, turtles, snakes,
insects, rodents, and small water birds. Their platform nests built of sticks can be seen
high in the trees, sometimes as much as 100 feet above the ground.