Cranes, Herons and Egrets

***Cranes, herons and egrets all look very similar. They are the three tallest swan birds. They are all alike but all very different.

Cranes

***Cranes are tall birds with a heavy body. They have long legs and a long neck. They extend their wings in flight and lay two eggs at a time. The whooping crane is extremely rare and its population is approximately fifty.

Herons

***The great white heron and the great blue heron are very closely related. The bird's bill is a yellowish color. They fly slowly with their heads up and drawn back. The heron is called "The Spirit of the Pond," because when the mist is rising of the pond the heron looks like a ghost.

Egrets

***The egret is mistaken for the heron, because they fly in the same way and have the same yellowish beak. The way to tell the two birds apart is their size. The egret is slightly smaller then the heron.

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