Blue heron gets no respect

There used to be a comedian named Rodney Dangerfield whose shtick was that he never got any respect. The little blue heron is the Rodney Dangerfield of the birding world.

This may be because, at first glance, little blue herons seem to be pretty boring birds. Granted, iridescent blue and purple plumage adorns their slender, graceful physiques, making them one of our daintiest and prettiest wading birds. But here’s where the boring part begins.

Like many other wading birds, they live and nest in subtropical and tropical swamps in the Gulf States of the southern U.S. through the Caribbean Sea and south to Peru and Paraguay. They also stalk their prey — just like other wading birds — moving methodically and stabbing out with their sharp bills to spear quarries that swim past them.

They eat pretty much everything that other wading birds eat: fish, frogs, crustaceans, small rodents and insects. Then along with a bunch of other little blue herons and — you guessed it — other wading birds, they build their nests out of long sticks high in trees on islands in the middle of lakes, ponds, and marshes.

Even the bird guides find it difficult to say anything really interesting about the little blue heron. Here are a few “featured” comments about this bird:

• Named for its slate blue plumage, the little blue blends in well with dark marsh plants.

• The little blue heron’s middle toe has “teeth” along one side and is used as a comb to scratch its upper neck, throat, and top and sides of its head.

• The little blue heron is not a very vocal bird.

• The little blue heron often follows farmers as they are plowing fields and then grabs the insects that are disturbed by the plow.

Another major problem is that little blue herons always take a backseat to two related species — the louder and raunchier great blue heron and the cuter and funnier snowy egret — which are usually around at the same time. During its first year on earth, the little blue heron also looks exactly like a snowy egret, completely white and about the same size. Young little blues even join in with flocks of snowies so they don’t stick out like sore thumbs and get gobbled up by the first predators that happen to saunter by.

Appearance-wise, this also puts little blues in the unenviable position of having to directly compete with the famous golden slippers of the snowy egrets, which are the most notable field marks in the birding world. To make matters worse, little blues are more successful at catching fish when they are juveniles and mixed in with snowy flocks than when they turn blue and go off on their own as adults.

Perhaps the worst slam against the little blue actually helped protect the species when other wading birds were being killed off by hunters for the millinery trade during the late 19th century. Since adult little blues don’t have any long showy plumes for use in ladies’ hats, hunters ignored them!

Finally, there’s the little blue heron’s scientific name, Egretta caerulea, which means “cerulean egret.” It seems the little blue heron is actually an egret in disguise.

Budd Titlow is a professional wetland scientist and wildlife biologist and an award-winning photographer. He has written three natural history books, most recently “Bird Brains: Inside the Strange Minds of Our Fine Feathered Friends.”