Nature Note #201: Blue Cranes and Long Whites

There is a small pond on the Trinity Center property I walk past everyday and is exceptionally buggy. Even when you are covered head to toe with 25% DEET bug spray, it seems to have no effect. The other day, as I rounded a bend, something lifted off from the top of a gnarled cedar. A tall bird croaked with agitation, flying away on long wings and extending a snaking neck. The bird in question was a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), a charismatic and recognizable marsh bird that is familiar to most people. Despite their common presence around wetlands, ponds, and rivers, I have heard them mistaken for another tall marsh bird, and are sometimes called "blue cranes".

Immature great blue seen near Bogue Sound in Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Photo by me.

Bird misidentification isn't a new issue. Even as naturalists and budding ornithologists like John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson were traveling the country identifying the birds they could; even they used colloquial names to describe their appearance. The title of this post refers to two nicknames, one for the great blue and the other for its relative, the great egret (A. alba). "Blue crane" suggests correctly that the great blue can be mistaken for a crane by the untrained eye, while the name "long white" was used by plume hunters to describe to long plumes and white appearance of the egret.

Sooty Shearwater seen off Race Point, P'town, MA. Photo by me.

Herring Gull along Gooseberry Neck, MA. Photo by me.

Now to a birder, mistaking one species for another can be considered at best an honest beginner's mistake or at worst an unforgivable sin depending upon who you direct your assertion to. To a beginner, there are a lot of confusing similarities between different families of birds. Shearwaters and gulls while relying on similar habitats are completely unrelated, while loons and ducks might be found on the same lake and cause confusion for beginner's and nonbirders alike.

Common Loon in Boston Harbor. Photo by me.

Common Mergansers on Beaver Lake, Baldwinsville, NY. Photo by me.

In order to clear up some confusion, it is important to know the difference between each species, so for the purposes of this post, I will be focusing on the great blue heron, the great egret, and the bird they are often mistaken for, the sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis).

In North Carolina, one is likely to see both great blues and great egrets in similar habitats with both preferring wetlands, ponds, slow-moving rivers, and lakes. They will even nest communally, building precarious stick nests in tall trees near their favorite hunting grounds. They catch fish with their dagger-like bills by patiently waiting by the water's edge, watching for the perfect moment to strike.

Patient great blue at Montezuma NWR in Montezuma, NY. Photo by me. 

A great egret watches in the grass. Photo by me. 

The sandhill crane and it's endangered cousin, the whooping crane (Grus americana) are similar, structurally speaking to herons and egrets. They are both tall, long-necked birds that nest and live near water bodies and eat similar foods. However, upon closer inspection, they differ on several points. One is range and habitat choice. Cranes prefer open areas like prairies and grassland to breed on and will nest further north into Canada and Alaska than either great blues or great egrets. In North Carolina, you are far more likely to spot herons and egrets than sandhills, but if you travel to Florida, there is a resident population of cranes that can cause confusion.

Another key identifier are their field marks and voices. Herons and egrets have thicker, longer bills than cranes and have prominent plumes on their heads, necks, and backs during the breeding season. Both species are thin, almost unhealthy looking when seen from the front. Cranes by contrast, are plumper with short, fluffy tails, and possess a patch of bare skin on their heads.

Great blues can be recognized by their dull blue-grey wings, black "shoulder" patch, grey neck, and two long black head plumes. Their bills are a mix of yellow, orange, and pale pink and their lores are bright blue during the breeding season.


Great blue in Great Meadows NWR in Concord, MA. Photo by me. 

Great egrets are of a similar build with brilliant white plumage and long, wispy plumes on the neck and back during the breeding season. They have yellow bills and have green lores at the height of the nesting season.


Wary great egret by pond. Photo by me.

By contrast, sandhill cranes are grey-brown to rusty with a crown of red skin and a feather duster tail that puffs out above their rump. Their black bills are pointed, but shorter than a heron's.

Lesser Sandhill Crane. Photo by Frankyboy5, retrieved from Wikipedia

If cranes were musicians, they would be in a brass band with their trumpeting calls ringing loudly where ever they reside. Herons and egrets on the other hand have horrible voices. They can be likened to a heavy smoker attempting to sing opera, croaking and coughing ugly, grating notes. Upon take off, the heron I saw along the pond, extended its neck out giving its gruff report to the surrounding trees, before coiling its head onto its back in a collapsed "S". By contrast, when cranes fly, their necks remain extended like geese.

Sandhills flyby in Oak Harbor, OH. Photo by me.

As I walked past the pond and out to the dock that overlooks Bogue Sound, I noticed the another great blue sitting on a naked branch overlooking the salt marsh. It seemed to gaze back, cautiously gauging my intentions, or so I thought. There was several hundred feet of space between the two of us so it seemed unconcerned with my presence.

Watcher in the tree. Photo by me.

We watched each other for minutes on end, never moving. It suddenly occurred to me that one striking difference between cranes and herons was their relationships with trees. Given that most cranes nest on open grassland where they would seldom, if ever encounter a tree, and therefore didn't regularly sit in trees. That single thought clinched it for me. It is by no means a one size fits all identification, but if I'm asked in the future about whether the tall bird they saw was a heron or a crane, I'll ask:

"Was it in a tree?"

If so, it's a heron or egret and we can go from there. If not, I can still use their other field marks to secure an identification and hopefully help another budding birder find their place in our diverse and thriving community.

"If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have to at least consider that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands." - Douglas Adams

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