Little Blue Heron missing toes
Here it had given up trying to balance on a floating dock. I went down by myself and thought I was scaring it, but then I realized it was just having trouble balancing while I walked on the dock, so I knelt and stayed still, and it preened for me for a while. Then a big group of fishermen came onto the dock and the heron couldn't balance any more. It seemed to be getting along pretty well otherwise. It looked like it was in good shape and the feathers look well kept.
The little blue heron is a small heron. It breeds in the Gulf states of the US, through Central America and the Caribbean south to Peru and Uruguay. It is a resident breeder in most of its range, but some northern breeders migrate to the southeastern US or beyond in winter. There is post-breeding dispersal to well north of the nesting range, as far as the Canada–US border.
comments (1)