Great Blue Heron

Description: 39-52" A large, and common heron mainly grayish, with pale or yellow bill, flies with neck folded, all-white form in southern Florida, white head with black stripe above eye, front of neck white with black vertical streak, breeding adult: Yellow bill and long neck plumes	Habitat: common in river and lake edges, wet meadows, freshwater marshes, swamps, fields and other wetland environments. Also tidal mudflats, sandbars and mangroves. Hunts by remaining motionless in shallow water and waiting for prey to come within striking distance. Wary. May perch in trees.
Nesting: 3-7 pale blue-green eggs on a platform of sticks in a tree or bush, nests in colonies often among other heron species	Range: breeds from Oregon south to Gulf of Mexico, from Minnesota to Mississippi valley, and southeast, winters along west coast, as far north as Alaska, Atlantic coast to New Jersey, and in tropics
Voice: A harsh sqwaack!	Diet: mostly fish, but opportunistic, including human food scraps, nestlings, small mammals. Young fed fish

Notes: Flies with distinctive slow, labored wing beats, trailing legs behind and head folded back on shoulders, most active just before dawn and at dusk, .

When present in Oklahoma: Can be seen statewide year-round