Great blue heron
Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758
The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a species in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes. Recorded adults weigh 2.11 kg to 2.66 kg and live up to 23.3 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the great blue heron
- Weight
- 2.11 kg – 2.66 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.68 m – 1.98 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 23.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 24.5 years
- Main food
- fishsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 28 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 22 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the great blue heron?
Where does the great blue heron live?
Not recorded
What is the great blue heron?
The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family (Ardeidae), common near shores of open water and wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as Northwestern South America, the Caribbean, and the Galápagos Islands. It is occasionally found in the Azores and is a rare vagrant to Europe. An all-white population found in South Florida, the Florida Keys, and the Caribbean islands, is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether these white birds are a color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species.
From the Wikipedia article “Great blue heron” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_blue_heron&oldid=1383789767), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the great blue heron endangered?
The great blue heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the great blue heron classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyArdeidae
- genusArdea
- SpeciesArdea herodias Linnaeus, 1758
Other names and names in other languages (72)
- Amerikaanse blauwe reigerEnglish
- Blue heronEnglish
- WakhachàahaAlabama
- بلشون أزرق كبيرArabic
- CakiwAtikamekw
- Голяма синя чаплаBulgarian
- mochkamiSiksiká
- Kerc'heiz vras AmerikaBreton
- bernat americàCatalan
- ᎧᏂᏍᎦᏩCherokee
- Ne'potátseCheyenne
- volavka velkáCzech
- Crëyr Mawr GlasWelsh
- Stor BlåhejreDanish
- KanadareiherGerman
- Αμερικανικός ΣταχτοτσικνιάςGreek
- granda ardeoEsperanto
- Blucindra ardeoEsperanto
- Garza AzulSpanish
- GarciloteSpanish
- Garza azuladaSpanish
- Garza CenizaSpanish
- Garza morenaSpanish
- GarzónSpanish
- garzón azuladoSpanish
- Garzón cenizoSpanish
- ameerika hallhaigurEstonian
- حواصیل آبی بزرگPersian
- amerikanharmaahaikaraFinnish
- Sans-joieFrench
- Grand HéronFrench
- Mórchorr ghormIrish
- Coar ghorrym vooarManx
- אנפה אמריקניתHebrew
- אנפה כחולה גדולהHebrew
- američka čapljaCroatian
- királygémHungarian
- Cangak biru besarIndonesian
- BláhegriIcelandic
- Airone azzurroItalian
- airone azzurro maggioreItalian
- オオアオサギJapanese
- didysis pilkasis garnysLithuanian
- sbəq̓ʷaʔlut
- Kanādas gārnisLatvian
- apji'jkmujMi'kmaw
- Wvko-rakkoMuscogee
- Táłtłʼááh álééhNavajo
- herodiashegreNorwegian
- ZhashagiOjibwa
- Garsa Blou GrandiPapiamento
- czapla modraPolish
- وڈا نیلا بگلاWestern Panjabi
- garça-azul-grandePortuguese
- garça-real-americanaPortuguese
- большая голубая цапляRussian
- AmerihkáránesháigirNorthern Sami
- Dzóäshä’.Seneca
- volavka statnáSlovak
- ameriška siva čapljaSlovenian
- Велика Плава ЧапљаSerbian
- Velika plava čapljaSerbian
- amerikansk gråhägerSwedish
- büyük mavi balıkçılTurkish
- Amerika Gri BalıkçılıTurkish
- чапля північнаUkrainian
- Велика блакитна чапляUkrainian
- Велика синє чапляUkrainian
- Чапля велика блакитнаUkrainian
- Diệc xanh lớnVietnamese
- 大蓝鹭Chinese
- 大藍鷺Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the great blue heron
Other species in the same genus Ardea.
Grey heron
Ardea cinerea
Great egret
Ardea alba
Western cattle egret
Ardea ibis
Purple heron
Ardea purpurea
Goliath heron
Ardea goliath
Medium egret
Ardea intermedia
CompareGreat blue heron vs Grey heronGreat blue heron vs Great egretGreat blue heron vs Western cattle egretGreat blue heron vs Purple heron
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the great blue heron?
An adult great blue heron weighs 2.11 kg – 2.66 kg and has a wingspan of 1.68 m – 1.98 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the great blue heron endangered?
The great blue heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What does the great blue heron eat?
Its recorded main food is fish.
How long does the great blue heron live?
The great blue heron has a recorded lifespan of 23.3 years.
What kind of animal is the great blue heron?
The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) belongs to the family Ardeidae in the order Pelecaniformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Great blue heron (Ardea herodias). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-blue-heron
“Great blue heron (Ardea herodias).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-blue-heron.
@misc{great_blue_heron_2026,
title = {Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-blue-heron},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}