Photo: White Faced Heron New Zealand

The White Faced Heron shows off his beautiful markings as he flies above the estuary in Otago, New Zealand.

A white faced heron is a light blue and greyish colour with a white face and dark flight feathers along his lighter grey plumage. They have long yellow legs with an elongated neck and a very pointed bill which is also a greyish black color.

The white faced heron is a fairly easy bird to recognize due to its distinctive markings and is found mainly in Australia but also in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. This particular white faced heron resides in an estuary near Hinahina along the Southern Scenic Route in Otago, New Zealand.

They particularly love the wetland environment around the New Zealand area where they find a majority of their food consumption. Included in their meals are water insects and the larvae, frogs, mollusks, tadpoles, smaller reptiles and when all else fails they will dine on small fish.

The white faced heron is a very common type of bird in New Zealand and it is usually fairly easy to capture a picture or two of this intriguing species of bird. ... continue below the picture...

This picture is part of the photo album "Animal Pictures" - there are more beautiful images waiting for you.

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White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, (formerly - Ardea novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), in an estuary near Hinahina along the Southern Scenic Route, Catlin's Highway, Otago, East Coast, South Island, New Zealand.