Great Blue Heron

Description:

Great Blue Herons appear blue-gray from a distance, with a wide black stripe over the eye. Head, chest, and wing plumes give a shaggy appearance. Largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, daggerlike bill.

Habitat:

This Great Blue Heron was under a bridge at another fishing jetty. There was a lurking alligator in the area.

Notes:

Sabine NWR,about 8 miles south of Hackberry, on State Highway 27, was established in 1937 to provide habitat for migratory waterfowl and other birds. The refuge consists of a basin of wetlands located between the Gulf's beach cheniers (oak ridges)and the coastal prairie, which is one of the most productive and fertile areas of North America. It encompasses 124,511 acres of fresh,intermediate and brackish marshes and is one of the largest estuarine-dependent marine species nurseries in southwest Louisiana. It has also been designated as an "Internationally Important Bird Area" due to the numerous wading, water and marsh birds that utilize it throughout the year.