This mostly white bird seen in the southwest Florida swamp stumped some experienced bird watchers who were guessing its identity. What do you think? Yes, it looks like a heron with that long beak, but it’s not blue…at least not yet.

My first guess was the Wurdemann’s Heron, a mostly white mutation of the Great Blue Heron, that I had recently learned about and sighted in Rookery Bay. Don’t we love to put our newly found knowledge to work? But the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary naturalist gently corrected me: this is a juvenile Great Blue Heron.
If you have some birding knowledge to share, please leave a comment to this blog. I’m happy to start a conversation.
Beautiful bird.
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