Great Blue Heron vs New Zealand Little Bittern
Ardea herodias compared with Ixobrychus novaezelandiae
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Great Blue Heron | New Zealand Little Bittern |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Ardea herodias | Ixobrychus novaezelandiae |
| Order | Pelecaniformes | Pelecaniformes |
| Family | Ardeidae | Ardeidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Extinct |
| Length | 117.0 cm (46.1 in) | — |
| Wingspan | 183.0 cm (72.0 in) | — |
| Weight | 2400.0 g (84.66 oz) | 104.5 g (3.69 oz) |
| Diet | Primarily fish, also frogs, snakes, small mammals, insects, and other birds. Hunts by standing motionless … | -- |
| Clutch Size | 2-7 | 2-9 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Shared Habitats
Great Blue Heron only
None
New Zealand Little 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.
New Zealand Little Bittern
Geographic Range & Migration
Great Blue Heron
North and Central America from Alaska and southern Canada to the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands.
New Zealand Little Bittern
Conservation Status
Great Blue Heron
New Zealand Little 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
New Zealand Little 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.
New Zealand Little Bittern
The New Zealand Little Bittern (Ixobrychus novaezelandiae) is an extinct species of small heron belonging to the family Ardeidae, formerly endemic to the North Island, South Island, and possibly other islands of New Zealand. Known from subfossil bones and a small number of specimens collected in the nineteenth century, this bittern appears to have been similar in general structure to other small Ixobrychus bitterns but with plumage that reportedly differed from its congeners, showing more brownish and streaked tones. It …