Description: The Little Blue Heron measures about 25 inches in length. Adults have a bluish-gray body, purple head and neck, and a long purple tuft of feathers extending from the head. Little Blue Herons have long bills that are tinged with black on the ends. While males and females look alike, immature birds are completely white, and may be mistaken for egrets.

Status/Habitat: The Little Blue Heron is a common, but easily overlooked heron of southern freshwater marshes, swamps, rivers, and other wetlands. Unlike many herons and egrets, Little Blue Herons usually hunt alone, although they nest in colonies.

Range: Little Blue Herons are primarily coastal birds, ranging as far north as Long Island on the east coast. Little Blue Herons, however, are much more common in the south, and are particularly common in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. A substantial population of these herons has moved north along the Mississippi River, nearly to St. Louis, Missouri. Little Blue Herons also nest in the Tropics, Mexico, Central America, and even parts of South America.

Diet: Little Blue Herons eat small fish, frogs, crustaceans, young turtles, lizards, crayfish, water insects, and grasshoppers. While Little Blue Herons are normally silent, they may "scream" near their nesting sites.

Little Blue Herons are susceptible to habitat destruction and the use of pesticides.