A large, stately, blue-gray bird the Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, has wide black stripe over the eye; long, yellow legs; a sinuous neck with special vertebra; and a dagger-like bill. Its shaggy appearance is due to wing plumes, specialized chest feathers that continually grow and fray as the bird combs them with a fringed claw. When preening, a heron applies the resulting “powder down” to underpart feathers as a protection from organic oils and slime.
Avian Note Art 