Great Blue Heron vs Von Schrenck's Bittern
Ardea herodias compared with Ixobrychus eurhythmus
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Great Blue Heron | Von Schrenck's Bittern |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Ardea herodias | Ixobrychus eurhythmus |
| Order | Pelecaniformes | Pelecaniformes |
| Family | Ardeidae | Ardeidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 117.0 cm (46.1 in) | — |
| Wingspan | 183.0 cm (72.0 in) | 28.7 cm (11.3 in) |
| Weight | 2400.0 g (84.66 oz) | 130.16666666666666 g (4.59 oz) |
| Diet | Primarily fish, also frogs, snakes, small mammals, insects, and other birds. Hunts by standing motionless … | -- |
| Clutch Size | 2-7 | 3-6 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Shared Habitats
Great Blue Heron only
None
Von Schrenck's Bittern only
Great Blue Heron
Wetlands of all types including marshes, swamps, riverbanks, lake edges, and coastal shores. Also hunts in fields and meadows.
Song & Call Comparison
Great Blue Heron
Deep, harsh, croaking 'frahnk-frahnk' call in flight. Also gives low guttural grunts at the nest. Alarmed birds give repeated croaks. Mostly silent for such a large wader.
Von Schrenck's Bittern
Geographic Range & Migration
Great Blue Heron
North and Central America from Alaska and southern Canada to the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands.
Von Schrenck's Bittern
Conservation Status
Great Blue Heron
Von Schrenck's Bittern
How to Tell Them Apart
Great Blue Heron
Blue-grey body with a white head bearing a broad black stripe extending to a long black plume. Rufous-brown thighs. In flight, the neck is folded into an S-shape.
Long, dagger-like yellowish bill
Von Schrenck's Bittern
About These Birds
Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron is the largest heron in North America, standing up to 1.4 meters tall. These patient hunters can stand motionless for extended periods before striking at prey with remarkable speed. They nest in large colonies called heronries, often returning to the same site year after year.
Von Schrenck's Bittern
Von Schrenck's Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythmus) is a small, secretive heron of the family Ardeidae, named in honor of the German naturalist Leopold von Schrenck who explored the Amur region of the Russian Far East in the nineteenth century. Adult males are distinctive within the genus, displaying rich chestnut-brown upperparts with a strongly contrasting, dark purplish-brown crown and nape, and pale buff to whitish underparts with dark brown streaking along the center of the throat and breast. Females and immatures are …