There are many body types among birds, but none evoke more beauty or joy than long-legged birds. Cranes are especially revered as graceful hunters, and the long legs of all these birds serve as stilts for their primarily aquatic habitat. Here is a list of 20 exceptionally long-legged birds that are notable not only for their length but also for their role in fragile swamp ecosystems and their unique foraging techniques.

1. Absence of America

• Scientific name : Botarus lentiginosus
• Length : 36-45 inches
• Weight : 0.8-2.3 pounds

The American Bittern is a plump wading bird and an expert at camouflage. They have a striking white abdomen with dark brown stripes that can easily blend in with surrounding vegetation, making them especially difficult to spot. Their main diet is aquatic insects such as dragonflies and water beetles, but they also eat many amphibians and snakes.

This bird has long legs for wading, as shown in the photo. It has an extremely distinctive sound that has been described as similar to the sound an old wooden water pump makes. Because of this, local names for the species include “thunder pump” and “swamp drum” to refer to the deep booming call.

2. Big stork

• Scientific name : Ardea alba
• Length : 2.6-3.4 feet
• Weight : 1.5-3.3 pounds

The great stork has bright yellow eyes and brilliant white feathers. During mating season, they have beautiful plumes of feathers extending from their backs to their tails to help them find suitable mates. They breed throughout the United States, but prefer freshwater and salt marshes, marsh ponds, and tidal flats along the Atlantic coast.

Like most wading birds, they have long legs ideal for standing in shallow water searching for prey. Their most striking feature is that unlike most herons, great egrets fly with their necks retracted. The great egret also has a linear flight, meaning it flies in a straight and level path while continuously flapping its wings, and thus relies entirely on its large, powerful wings for takeoff.

3. Great blue heron

• Scientific name : Ardea herodias
• Length : 3.2-4.5 feet
• Weight : 4.6-5.5 pounds

The great blue heron is not actually blue but has a blue-gray color on its back and underside with black, gray, and white stripes. They feed mainly on small fish in aquatic habitats but will happily eat a variety of foods. It relies on powerful wing beats to maintain flight and follow a very steady path through the sky. Its long legs are used for both wading and finding higher vantage points that give them a better view of potential prey.

Great blue herons are the largest heron species in North America and tend to congregate at fish hatcheries. This can sometimes cause problems for fish farmers and gives the Blue Heron a reputation as a pest. However, recent studies have shown that herons are more likely to eat sick fish that lie close to the surface, which actually keeps hatcheries cleaner and ecosystems stronger.

4. Blue heron

• Scientific name : Butorides virescens
• Length : 16-18 inches
• Weight : 6.2 ounces

Great blue herons breed throughout most of the United States, except eastern Washington to the Dakotas. It prefers to spend winters along the west coast and in the Southern United States along rivers, oceans, lakes and ponds. It is an opportunistic forager, preferring fish as its main food but will hunt anything small enough to fit in its mouth. It technically has the shortest legs of any heron, but they are still significantly longer than most birds and are used primarily as vantage points and stilts for wading.

It is actually one of the few bird species that uses tools – they often drop bait on the water’s surface and then grab the smaller fish it attracts. They are technically a subgroup of the Blue-backed Heron, which also includes the Banded Heron and the Galapagos Heron, but have been classified separately because of their tendency to roam after the breeding season, unlike the other two species. again.

5. Cattle storks

• Scientific name : Bubulcus ibis
• Length : 18-22 inches
• Weight : 9.5-18.1 ounces

The cattle heron is found in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, but is thought to have originated only in Central Africa and spread during the 19th century. It prefers open areas , grassy such as grasslands, meadows, marshes, floodplains, and marshes. They are also the only species of white heron to have both a yellow bill and yellow feet. Cattle herons are also the best examples of birds with long legs that use them to observe the environment and also allow them to catch flying insects within a wider range of vertical movement.

It primarily feeds on aquatic insects such as water flies and dragonflies, but like most herons it will also devour many amphibians and snakes. They are well suited to human activity and will sometimes congregate along the sides of airport runways. They do this in an effort to wait for airplanes to fly over and keep insects out of the grass, and it is estimated that they collect 50% more food when near humans than when they are not.

6. Snowy egret

• Scientific name : Egretta thula
• Length : 2 feet
• Weight : 13 ounces

Snowy Egrets breed locally from Oregon to New England, primarily along the coast, and frequently winter in California, Arizona, Virginia, and Mexico. They like to stay in marshes, swamps, and mudflats in search of crustaceans, insects, and fish, using their long legs to keep their fur from getting wet and heavy. The snowy egret changes its appearance during the breeding season; males have long, lace-like plumes of feathers along their neck and back to attract mates.

They were almost hunted to extinction in the late 19th century, as these beautiful plumes were in great demand to decorate women’s hats – in 1886 they were valued at twice the price of gold at the time. there. They are now quite well adapted to human activity and will choose urban nesting sites over isolated locations, as isolated locations tend to have more predators.

7. Tri-colored heron

• Scientific name : Tricolor Egretta
• Length : 9.8-12 inches
• Weight : 11 ounces

Tricolored herons breed in southeastern New Mexico and Texas and reside along the Gulf Coast and along the Atlantic Coast as far as Maine. They winter as far south as in northern South America and the West Indies. They hunt for fish with their long stilt legs in marshes, creeks, coastal ponds, salt marshes, mangrove islands, mudflats and lagoons.

This is the only dark-colored heron with a white belly, making it easy for birdwatching enthusiasts to identify. They are one of the most abundant herons found in the Deep South and were formerly known as Louisiana Herons before it was changed to the dismay of many Louisiana ornithologists.

8. Wood Stork

• Scientific name : Mycteria Americana
• Length : 3.3 feet
• Weight : 5.5 pounds

Wood storks are local to Florida and Georgia, and are rarely seen farther than Texas. However, it is still considered a wandering bird, as opposed to a migratory bird, and has been found as far away as California and Massachusetts. They primarily breed in cypress swamps, although they have shifted to salt marshes due to increasing human pressure on their habitat.

These birds have long legs that give them a distinctive, tall appearance. They are extremely powerful fliers, known to be able to fly up to 6000 feet. They will also fly up to 50 miles in search of food. They nest above water to prevent predators from reaching their eggs, the most common culprits being raccoons.

9. Cranes cry

• Scientific name : Grus americana
• Length : 4.3-5.2 feet
• Weight : 9.9-19 pounds

Whooping cranes were once common throughout North America and ranged from Utah to New England, but now, there is only one wild population that migrates between its breeding grounds in northern Canada and its wintering grounds on the Texas coast. It prefers grassy plains interspersed with swamps and ponds and will eat frogs, fish, molluscs, small mammals and crustaceans; it will basically eat anything that comes too close to where they are standing on their stilt-like legs.

They are the tallest birds in North America, with males standing nearly 5 feet tall with a wingspan of up to 7.5 feet. Unfortunately, the main cause of death for adult whooping cranes is collisions with power lines during migration, but there is still hope for the species. They usually lay two eggs but choose to raise only one chick, which means it’s easier for biologists to remove and artificially incubate them and increase their numbers little by little.

10. White-faced ibis

• Scientific name : Plegadis chihi
• Length : 18-22 inches
• Weight : 1.1 pounds

White-fronted ibis breed from Oregon to Minnesota and live as far south as New Mexico and Texas. They spend winters in southern California and Louisiana, preferring warm coastal marshes to colder, inland salt marshes. They eat many invertebrates as well as frogs and fish. They actually have some of the thickest legs relative to their body size and are extremely sturdy birds.

It is believed that the world’s largest nesting colony of white-faced storks can be found in the marshes surrounding the Great Salt Lake in Utah. However, their populations are in serious decline across North America due to threats such as wetland depletion and widespread use of pesticides.

11. Pink spoon beak

• Scientific name : Platalea ajaja
• Length : 28-32 inches
• Weight : 2.6-4 pounds

The Roseate spoonbill is local to coastal Florida, Texas and southwest Louisiana. They like to roam in small flocks of other spoonbills and are also known to associate with other wading birds. They forage in shallow waters and use their flat beaks to sift through mud by shaking their heads from side to side while using their long legs to wade through the water.

This beautiful bird is rare and becomes more and more popular with each passing year. They are particularly vulnerable to the degradation of their feeding and nesting habitats, which is increasingly occurring as a side effect of pollution. They were virtually eliminated from the United States as a side effect of the destruction of whooping crane colonies by bird hunters in the 1860s, and only recently have they begun to recolonize Texas and Florida in the 18th century. 20.

12. Limping person

• Scientific name : Aramus guarauna
• Length : 25-29 inches
• Weight : 2-2.9 pounds

The Limpkin is a unique, large marsh bird that has a slightly curved bill and looks a bit like an ibis. They use their long legs to stand underwater and feed mainly on freshwater snails, clams, frogs, crustaceans and insects in the Florida peninsula and southern Mexico. They are also found in South America, mainly east of the Andes and nowhere below the Equator, preferring dense, wooded freshwater marshes and swamps.

It gets its name because its flight resembles a limp, with dangling legs and jerky wing beats. It was once very common in Florida, but due to the decline of its main food source, the Florida Apple Snail, it is now listed as a species of special concern in the state. Generally, a group of Limpkins is known as a group of “hobbled” Limpkins.

13. American flamingo

• Scientific name : Phoenicopterus rubber
• Length : 5 feet
• Weight : 4-8 pounds

Next up is the iconic bird that immediately comes to everyone’s mind when they think of birds with long legs, the flamingo. American flamingos are mainly distributed throughout the West Indies, although flocks also occur in southern Florida, Texas and the Galapagos Islands. Their preferred habitats are saltwater marshes, brackish coastal areas, inland lakes and mudflats. They eat algae, diatom bacteria, plankton, small fish and salt fly larvae.

This is the most common species in the flamingo family. It gets its bright pink color from the food it consumes and is considered the most distinctive aspect of the bird other than its angular black beak. At the beginning of the nesting season, they perform mass courtship displays in which hundreds of birds move together in a coordinated walk.

14. Jabiru

• Scientific name : Jabiru mycteria
• Length : 5 feet
• Weight : 9 pounds

Another bird that we don’t want to leave out of our list of long-legged birds is the Jabiru. They are one of the largest flying birds in the world and would cause problems if they were purely direct flyers, but the Jabiru alternates between strong, slow wing beats and short glides while ascending. thanks to heat and updated airflow to float. They are common in areas of Brazil and Paraguay, but have also been spotted in bordering countries.

Their name comes from the local Tupi-Guarani language, meaning “swollen neck” because of their strange swollen appearance. They are extremely clumsy on land, with stumbling feet and extremely ungainly and wobbly steps, but are graceful in the air and will fly with others of their species. A Jabiru flock is called a “trash” flock of storks.

15. Red red litmus

• Scientific name : Eudocimus rubber
• Length : 2.2 feet
• Weight : 1.4 pounds

The Scarlet Ibis, as the name suggests, is a beautiful orange-red ibis with black wing tips. They are especially interesting in that they have black beaks during the breeding season but are pink at other times. They live in mangrove swamps and adjacent muddy estuaries in South America and the islands of the Caribbean. Their long legs, like most of the birds on this list, are used for wading in these swamps and make them expert navigators for mangrove roots hidden beneath the water’s surface.

This is a hardy bird and is protected around the world, as it was previously hunted for its brilliant red plumage and has fully recovered and is of least concern to the ecological community. For safety, they build their nests in trees above the water to avoid predators, in what is called “artless” or “a loose base of sticks.”

16. Gray Heron

• Scientific name : Ardea cinerea jouyi
• Length : 2.8-3.3 feet
• Weight : 2.2-4.6 pounds

As you might guess, the Gray Heron is a large gray wading bird. It also has yellow legs and a yellow bill that turns red during the breeding season. Their habitats vary across North America, but they prefer shallower waters so they can use their stilt-like legs. They eat mainly fish, but that also varies depending on the season and availability.

They are known to frequently reuse their nests from the previous mating season, but are not monogamous. They find a new breeding partner each season and will often take over their previous home or choose to move to a new location to avoid confrontation.

17. Purple Heron

• Scientific name : Ardea purpurea
• Length : 30-45 inches
• Weight : 2.3 pounds

The Purple Heron is somewhat of a misnomer, similar to the Blue Heron, as it is tawny brown and white with a few blue-gray stripes. It has a black crown with beautiful long black plumes and a black line on the face and under the eyes, making this a special bird if you spot one. However, their long orange legs make this difficult as they blend well with the long-stemmed plants commonly found in their habitat.

They build nests on stick platforms near the ground and near water in an attempt to keep their eggs safe from predators such as snakes. They are also known to use a “tool” of sorts, choosing to drop a feather or leaf onto the surface and then lie in wait for a curious fish to come and investigate.

18. Purple honey

• Scientific name : Porphyrio martinicus
• Length : 10-15 inches
• Weight : 7.6-9.1 ounces

The Purple Gallinule is a medium-sized chicken breed named for its bright and distinctive plumage. It has a deep, hoarse cry that sounds like a chicken, but chicken sounds don’t usually come from the middle of the lake. They are found in the Florida peninsula year-round and also breed along the coasts of the southern states.

They migrate south in winter and settle in the Yucatan Peninsula and throughout Central America along the coast in shallow wetlands and marshes. It feeds by walking along vegetation at the water’s edge, using its long toes and strong legs to balance on water lily leaves and other plants. It is also known to feed while swimming.

19. Red stork

• Scientific name : Egretta rufescens
• Length : 27-32 inches
• Weight : 0.8-1.9 pounds

The red stork has two extremely rare forms – dark and light. The light variant is white with a bi-colored bill that is pink with a black tint and is much rarer than the dark variant which is grey-blue with red feathers on the head and neck. Compared to other herons, it is considered more plump in size, with a more rounded body and slightly protruding knees that shift its center of balance much lower, allowing it to hunch over. The water surface in a “squatting” position is much easier than with other herons. .

It is almost exclusively an inhabitant of Gulf Coast coastal lagoons and is perhaps the least known heron species in North America. They hunt using a unique technique of using shade to lure the fish to the surface before using rapid thrusts to try to catch it. It is considered the most diverse and active North American heron in its foraging techniques.

20. Sandhill crane

• Scientific name : Grus canadensis
• Length : 42-46 inches
• Weight : 7.1-11 pounds

Sandhill cranes are especially beautiful and famous for their red markings on their heads as well as white markings on each cheek. From a distance, it is often mistaken for the Great Blue Heron, but unlike this heron, the Sandhill Crane flies with its neck extended instead of folded inward. Sandhill cranes are famous for their long legs and are another special shape that attracts many people’s attention. live in its habitat and believe that if a sandhill crane flies past you, you will be lucky!

They have a deep, rattling call that is often compared to that of the American crow and is the first clue to the presence of a flock of these birds. They are opportunistic feeders and will eat more plant matter than most larger birds, but the animal part is still extremely important as it provides essential amino acids for their diet.