A person’s vision sometimes does not notice minor details that distinguish one from the other. Most often this happens when our mind follows a certain strategy and focuses on the whole picture, and not on its parts. People who rarely see birds do not distinguish them precisely because of this optical illusion. Moreover, errors are made mainly in the definition of water birds. In the article, let's try to figure out what are the differences between a stork, a crane and a heron?
Stork definition
The stork is a wandering (migratory) bird of large sizes, has long legs, the same neck and beak. He has huge, beautiful wings, the length of which can exceed two meters. This bird belongs to the order Ciconiiformes, the family of the Ankle. Storks can overcome huge territories in a year. Representatives of this family can be found on all continents, but most often they settle in the countries of the tropical zone, in hot and temperate latitudes. The most famous of these is the white stork, whose age can reach 20 years.
The wings of a stork are covered with white feathers, and dark at the edges. This is one of the main external differences between a stork and a crane, in which the plumage is almost completely gray. Living in nests, birds prefer open spaces and the proximity of water bodies. Their diet mainly includes small vertebrates. However, storks will not refuse snakes, frogs and toads. Worms, insects, amphibians, small rodents and fish - the food menu of these demanding birds is so varied.
Crane - a large migratory bird
These birds belong to the Crane family, which has about 15 species worldwide. Their representatives can be found in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe. These birds are distinguished by long gray legs. In the photo you can see the differences between a stork and a crane. It is clearly seen that this bird is decorated with grayish-white (less often red plumage). Its beak is short, yellowish in color. A recognizable feature of the crane is a small colored head and a long black and white neck. The short feathery tail is particularly impressive. Unlike the stork, the crane is larger.
Heron - a feathered inhabitant of the swamps
Heron is a large marsh bird from the heron family. She has very long legs, and an elongated neck has a curved shape, so similar to the English letter S. Cranes mainly live near water, but adapt perfectly to other conditions. Living in cold areas, birds fly south for the winter and return in mid spring. They show activity not only during the day, but also at night.
The most common representative of this species is gray heron. The bird eats exclusively animals. Being very dexterous, the predator eats everyone who is unable to stand up for itself. In connection with the habitat, the heron's diet consists of fish, various small vertebrates, mollusks and crustaceans. In rather large quantities, they destroy land animals: rodents, frogs, snakes, etc.
Differences of heron, crane and stork: habitats and lifestyle features
The appearance of these birds is well known to both adults and children. But at the same time, they are often confused with each other. And no wonder: there is much in common between them. But the differences are still an order of magnitude greater.
Herons live near water bodies, such as swamps and reservoirs, so they are considered skilled swimmers. During the hunt, they stand in shallow water, vigilantly searching for prey around them. For their nests, they choose places hidden from other eyes: flooded bushes, reeds or reeds. Since the birds are rather timid, they settle far from people. It is worth noting that they have a very loud and sharp voice, which is often used during the flight.
Storks prefer to live and build their nests in the open. Their home is often located on hills, tree branches, or rooftops. This bird is far from timid, often settles quite close to people's housing. Storks are not related to water, and can capture food from the ground on the go. In addition, they do not know how to swim and have virtually no voice. Instead of screaming, they bang their nose out loud. Birds are inactive at night.
Crane, unlike storks and herons, can nest both in open spaces and near bodies of water on the ground. These birds do not like to approach people, but they do not live alone either. They always live in groups among their relatives. Voiced and can perform mating dances, which is not characteristic of other water birds. Very graceful.
Appearance
Herons during flight keep their wings parallel to the body, and also retract their neck, which at these moments is similar to their letter S. These are small light birds, their average height is 110 cm, weight 1.5-2.5 kg. The plumage of them is mainly white, less often pale white. On the legs there is a jagged nail with which they comb their small feathers. Herons are very elegant and neat birds.
Storks fly with a straight elongated neck, they have no jagged claw. Average height - 125 cm, weight about 4 kg.
The plumage is light, but there are black feathers at the ends of the wings. Although there are species that are completely covered with black feathers.
Cranes during flight show sharp movements of the wings, which they have over the body, their heavy neck is bent like a heron, but the hind legs are elongated.
You can see the different color of the feathers of these birds in the photo presented in the article: the differences between the stork, crane and heron are very noticeable. In cranes, the feathers are white, gray, and the head, neck and tail are black. In addition, their beak is much shorter than their counterparts. In size, they are an order of magnitude larger than storks.