{"id":45708,"date":"2017-03-22T06:15:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T12:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45708"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:41:46","slug":"age-related-color-morphs-of-little-blue-herons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/22\/age-related-color-morphs-of-little-blue-herons\/","title":{"rendered":"Age Related Color Morphs of Little Blue Herons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FirstFirst year Little Blue Heron – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, the title of my post says “Little Blue Heron” so why is the bird above white, why isn’t it blue as the name of this species suggests? It is because juvenile Little Blue Herons are<\/em> white after they hatch and will gradually obtain their “blue” plumage through molts.<\/p>\n

The photo above was taken at Roosevelt Wetland<\/span><\/a>, Pinellas County, Florida on June 28, 2008. This young Little Blue Heron was hatched earlier that year and was out in the wetlands hunting on its own when it flew up into a dead tree.<\/p>\n

Juvenile Little Blue Herons can be mistaken for Snowy Egrets but their greenish legs, blue gray loral skin (near the eyes) and bicolored bills can be used to differentiate between the two species. To a lesser degree they are also confused with Cattle Egrets by novices in bird identification.<\/p>\n

It is thought that juvenile Little Blue Herons are accepted more than the adults by the more aggressive Snowy Egrets because of their white plumage which may give them an advantage in the first year of their lives for obtaining food.<\/p>\n

There are times later in their hatch year when juvenile Little Blue Herons will show spots of “blue” on their outer primaries, or flight feathers.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Little Blue Heron – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo above was also taken at Roosevelt Wetland, Pinellas County, Florida on June 28, 2008 and shows a Little Blue Heron that was hatched the previous year in 2007. It was wonderful for me to have these two Little Blue Herons so close to each other on the same day to photograph for comparison.<\/p>\n

This phase or Formative Plumage is often called Pied, Piebald or Calico because of the mix of white and bluish plumage. The amount of white and blue plumage can vary widely in Little Blue Herons at this stage in their lives.<\/p>\n

\"Little Adult Little Blue Heron snags a pipefish – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo shows an adult Little Blue Heron in nonbreeding plumage right after it snagged a pipefish in one of the lagoons at Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> in February of 2009. Adult Little Blue Herons have blue-gray plumage on their bodies and wings while their heads and necks are a purplish maroon color. They are not a bright blue, or a royal blue, they are a gray blue.<\/p>\n

So, Little Blue Herons start off their lives with white plumage, then look piebald with blue and white feathers and finally look more “blue” as adults. Some people call these plumage phases “morphs”.<\/p>\n

Little Blue Heron sightings are rare in Utah but I saw them quite often in Florida where they are year round residents.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Little Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Little Blue Herons start off their lives with white plumage, then look piebald with blue and white fathers and finally look more “blue” as adults. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,81,2000,862],"tags":[4004,10306,5745,5748,85,4410,627,626,3970,4071,84,5744,5747,3457,3998,1053,5746,313,4095],"class_list":["post-45708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-little-blue-herons","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-roosevelt-wetlands","tag-adult","tag-age","tag-appearance","tag-calico","tag-egretta-caerulea","tag-first-summer","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-hunting","tag-juvenile","tag-little-blue-heron","tag-molts","tag-piebald","tag-pied","tag-pipefish","tag-plumage","tag-plumage-variations","tag-wading-birds","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/little-blue-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4921.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bTe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5884,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/11\/little-blue-heron-on-the-hunt\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":0},"title":"Little Blue Heron On The Hunt","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) was photographed in Florida as it hunted for prey in a shallow lagoon the edge of a marsh in late afternoon light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Little Blue Heron on the hunt, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-7723.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-7723.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-7723.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-adult-mia-mcpherson-7723.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100674,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/14\/young-great-blue-heron-in-front-of-the-promontory-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":1},"title":"Young Great Blue Heron In Front Of The Promontory Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I liked this image of an immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of the snow covered Promontory Mountains even though the heron is small in the frame.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Great Blue Heron flying in front of snow covered mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-blue-heron-immature-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1398.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":142848,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/13\/great-blue-heron-on-the-arkansas-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Heron on the Arkansas River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm glad I saw this adult Great Blue Heron in the Arkansas River several days ago while I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Great Blue Heron on the Arkansas River, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-5031.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-5031.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-5031.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/great-blue-heron-arkansas-river-mia-mcpherson-5031.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110398,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/20\/great-blue-heron-on-ice-small-in-frame\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron On Ice – Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had the opportunity to photograph a Great Blue Heron on the ice at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, where the heron was small in the frame.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and its winter shadow - Small in frame, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3071.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8905,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/18\/great-blue-heron-portraits-from-florida-and-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":4},"title":"Great Blue Heron Portraits from Florida and Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling adult Great Blue Heron portrait at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-florida-mia-mcpherson-8142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-florida-mia-mcpherson-8142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-florida-mia-mcpherson-8142.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-florida-mia-mcpherson-8142.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16024,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/02\/tricolored-heron-hunting-the-gulf-of-mexicos-shoreline\/","url_meta":{"origin":45708,"position":5},"title":"Tricolored Heron Hunting The Gulf Of Mexico’s Shoreline","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons and larger than Snowy Egrets and all three of these wading birds hunt in many of the same locations along the Gulf Coast.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron hunting the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s shoreline, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}