White Faced or Grey Heron

• Common throughout NZ
• Pale blueish grey feathers with yellow legs and white facial markings
• Found in most places where there is shallow water, fresh or salt and good fish for food
• They are nomadic and typically perch on fenceposts or trees
• Its flight is slow and bouncy
• Breeding takes place in Nov/Dec
• Both male and female share the task of building a nest incubating the eggs and caring for the young
• The nest is untidy, made of sticks and leafy branches and is normally found in trees
• Normally they lay 3-5 pale blue eggs, 1 brood per year
• Eggs hatch after 25 days
• Their diet consists of frogs, fish and insects
• A variety of techniques are used but usually by standing motionless, sometime for hours, creeping up on its prey
• Not overly sociable particularly in the breeding season
• Its predators are not many, mostly falcons and hawks