Scientific name : Botarus lentiginosus Length : inches Weight : 0. Their main diet is water insects such as dragonflies and waterbugs, but they will also eat many amphibians and snakes as well.
This bird has long legs for the purposes of wading, as shown in the photo. Scientific name : Ardea alba Length : 2. The Great Egret has bright yellow eyes and brilliant white plumage. During the mating season, they gain beautiful feather plumes that extend from the back to beyond the tail for the purposes of finding a suitable mate.
They breed all throughout the United States, but prefer fresh and salt marshes, marshy ponds, and tidal flats along the Atlantic coastline.
Like most wading birds, they possess long legs ideal for standing in shallow water in search of prey. Their most distinctive characteristic is that unlike most heron species, the Great Egret flies with its neck retracted. The Great Egret also has a direct flight, meaning it flies in a straight and level path while continuously flapping their wings, and so relies entirely on their powerful and large wings for liftoff.
Scientific name : Ardea herodias Length : 3. They feed mostly on small fish in their aquatic habitat, but will happily eat a variety of foods. It relies on strong wing-beats to remain in flight and follows a very steady path in the sky.
Its long legs are used both for wading and for finding a higher vantage point that gives them a better view of potential prey. Great Blue Herons are the largest herons in North America, and tend to congregate at fish hatcheries.
This can occasionally cause problems for the fish farmers and has earned the Blue Heron a reputation of a pest. However, recent studies have shown that the herons tend to eat sick fish that spend more time near the surface, which actually keeps the hatcheries cleaner and a stronger ecosystem. Scientific name : Butorides virescens Length : inches Weight : 6.
It prefers to spend winters along the west coast and in the Southern United States along rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds. Scientific name : Bubulcus ibis Length : inches Weight : 9. It prefers open, grassy areas such as pastures, meadows, marshes, flood plains, and swamps. The Cattle Egret is also the best example of a bird with long legs using them to observe their environment, and also allows them to catch flying insects in a wider range of vertical motion.
It primarily feeds on water insects like water skimmers and dragonflies, but like most herons, it will also swallow many amphibians and snakes as well.
Scientific name : Egretta thula Length : 2 feet Weight : 13 ounces. They prefer to be in marshes, swamps, and mudflats in their search for crustaceans, insects, and fish, using their long legs to keep their plumage from getting too wet and heavy. Snowy Egrets change appearance during the breeding season, with males gaining long lacy plumes down their neck and back as a mate attractor.
Scientific name : Egretta tricolor Length : 9. They spend winters as far south as northern South America and the West Indies. They hunt for fish on their long stilt legs in swamps, bayous, coastal ponds, salt marshes, mangrove islands, mudflats, and lagoons. This is the only dark-colored heron that has a white belly, which helps aspiring bird watchers with easy identification.
Scientific name : Mycteria americana Length : 3. However, it is still considered a wandering bird, as opposed to a migratory bird, and has been found as far as California and Massachusetts. These birds have long legs that give them a distinctive, gangly silhouette, are incredibly strong fliers, being known to fly as high as feet. They nest above water to prevent predators from getting to their eggs, with the most common perpetrator being raccoons.
Scientific name : Grus americana Length : 4. The Whooping Crane was once widespread throughout all of North America and ranged from Utah to New England, but currently, there is only one wild population that migrates between breeding grounds in northern Canada and wintering grounds on the Texas coast.
Scientific name : Plegadis chihi Length : inches Weight : 1. They spend their winters in southern California and Louisiana, preferring the warmer coastal marshes to the colder salt and fresh marshes inland. They eat many invertebrates as well as frogs and fish. They actually have some of the thickest legs to their body size and are incredibly sturdy birds. However, their populations are drastically declining throughout North America due to threats such as the draining of wetlands and the widespread use of pesticides.
Scientific name : Platalea ajaja Length : inches Weight : 2. Another reason colonies are safer is that when there are many birds, there are more eyes and ears for detecting danger and sounding the alarm when a predator is near. Finally, when an intruder does threaten the colony, individual birds may join forces to drive it away. Rookeries are usually located near or within flying distance of an abundant, concentrated food supply—a rich supply of fish and other live prey in and around adjacent waters, for example.
Abundant food is necessary because wading birds are big, the rookery is large, and growing chicks are hungry! A typical rookery, full of activity and noise, would likely get the attention of any predator in the vicinity. The eggs and nonflying young in the colony are vulnerable for a long period of time, promising a lot of food for a predator that can reach them. As a result, many wading birds nest on islands or over water in swamps where access by predators is limited.
In Florida, for example, wading birds favor nesting on islands in lakes inhabited by alligators. These reptiles discourage raccoons from swimming to the islands where they would feast on the bird eggs.
In addition to predators, threats to wading birds include natural phenomena such as storms and droughts that threaten their habitat and their young. Climate change compounds natural threats by increasing the intensity, frequency, and duration of weather events. Until the early twentieth century, all wading birds were considered fair game for hunters in America.
Birds were shot for food and for sport. Many were killed for their feathers alone to be used in the fashion industry. Entire colonies of nesting egrets were slaughtered to obtain feathers for hats.
Fortunately, laws passed in the early s put protections in play, and the populations of many species rebounded. Today, habitat loss through human development is a major threat to wading birds. Diversion of water for irrigation and drinking purposes and the building of dams have also drained wetlands and reduced the amount of water flowing into rivers.
A striking example is the reduction of habitat along the Platte River for migrating Sandhill Cranes. Humans have come a long way in sharing the world with wading birds. That same spirit can work to keep habitats healthy, both for wading birds and ourselves. Wading Birds downloadable PDF. Background for Teachers Wading birds have physical and behavioral adaptations for living on or near water.
Long Necks, Legs, and Toes Wading birds do not swim or dive to catch food; rather they wade into shallow water to obtain food not found on land.
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