Herons, egrets and bitterns | Ardeidae

Reigers | Herons, egrets and bitterns | Garzas y avetoros

The middle of the neck is built of shortened vertebrae, so the neck folds into a Z and can shoot forward in one movement, with the straight, pointed bill working as a spear or a pair of forceps. They hunt standing or walking slowly in shallow water for fish, amphibians, insects and small mammals, and they are the only long-legged waders that fly with the neck drawn back between the shoulders and the legs trailing past the tail. Patches of powder down on the breast and flanks crumble continuously; using the comb-like serrated claw of the middle toe they work that powder through the plumage to bind slime and fish oil. The nest is a platform of sticks or reeds, usually in a colony, and three to six eggs are laid with incubation starting from the first, so the chicks hatch a day or two apart and differ sharply in size.