Great Blue Heron vs Mauritius Night-Heron
Ardea herodias compared with Nycticorax mauritianus
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Great Blue Heron | Mauritius Night-Heron |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Ardea herodias | Nycticorax mauritianus |
| 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) | — |
| Diet | Primarily fish, also frogs, snakes, small mammals, insects, and other birds. Hunts by standing motionless … | -- |
| Clutch Size | 2-7 | -- |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
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.
Mauritius Night-Heron
Geographic Range & Migration
Great Blue Heron
North and Central America from Alaska and southern Canada to the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands.
Mauritius Night-Heron
Conservation Status
Great Blue Heron
Mauritius Night-Heron
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
Mauritius Night-Heron
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.
Mauritius Night-Heron
The Mauritius Night-Heron (Nycticorax mauritianus) is an extinct species of night-heron belonging to the family Ardeidae, formerly endemic to the island of Mauritius in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Unlike the Réunion Night-Heron which is known only from historical description, the Mauritius Night-Heron is known from subfossil and fossil skeletal remains recovered from Mauritian sites, allowing comparative analysis of its morphology. These remains indicate a large, robust heron, substantially larger than the extant Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) of the mainland, consistent …