Standing about four feet tall, the Great Blue Heron is the biggest heron on the continent and one of the easiest large birds to spot at lakes and rivers around Mt. Hood. It is mostly slate gray, with a whitish face, a black stripe above the eye, a heavy yellowish bill and rusty thighs. In breeding season adults grow long, shaggy plumes on the neck, chest and back.
Herons hunt with patience. One will stand perfectly still, or wade in slow motion, then strike with a sudden thrust of the bill. Fish make up most of the diet, but herons also take frogs, salamanders, snakes, insects and small birds, and in winter they often hunt voles and other rodents in pastures and fields.
In flight the heron is easy to know: slow wingbeats and a neck folded back so the head rests on the shoulders. Its call is a harsh squawk. Great Blue Herons usually nest in colonies, building stick platforms high in trees, and people can disrupt a colony, especially early in the nesting season, so give nesting birds plenty of room.
Pacific Coast herons often stay all year, and in Oregon they are common residents. Look for them along the edges of lakes, ponds and slow rivers on the mountain’s lower slopes.
How to identify it
A very tall gray wading bird, about 3 to 4.5 feet long with a wingspan near 6 feet. Whitish face with a broad black stripe above the eye, heavy yellow bill, rusty thighs, and shaggy plumes on the neck and back in breeding season. Flies slowly with the neck folded back.
Look-alikes
Sandhill Cranes are also tall and gray, but they have a red patch on the head, a shorter bill and a bushy tuft of feathers over the rump.
Habitat
Shallow edges of lakes, ponds, marshes, streams and slow rivers, plus wet pastures and fields, especially in winter. Common year-round across Oregon, including around towns.
Sightings in the forest
132 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on November 3, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →