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Bird Sounds: Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Calls

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener
Great Blue Heron Calls (220.08 KB)

Listen to the sounds and bird calls of the Great Blue Heron! This majestic bird is often seen near rivers and ponds, and its call is quite distinct.

To those lucky enough to spot a Great Blue Heron standing in or near water, it’s a sight that can take your breath away. They often stand motionless or wading very slowly, stalking their prey for hours upon hours.

With its beautiful blue-grey feathers, this water bird stands 4 to 5 feet tall and has a wingspan reaching up to 6.5 feet from tip to tip. Great Blue Herons can catch almost anything in the water, including fish, frogs, newts, turtles, small mammals, insects, and other birds. 

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The Sound of the Great Blue

The Great Blue Herons “squawk” or croak has an almost prehistoric sound. If you surprise this bird as it is hunting on the water, it will squawk as it leaves, almost as if it’s annoyed by your disturbance. The bird, despite its size, is very light with hollow bones and can fly quite high. Their giant wing span and dramatic silhouettes when flying conjure images of pterodactyls.

Herons can be quite vocal during breeding. When one partner greets the other, they touch their bills together and when they fly to the nest, they make a “landing call” with squawking roh-roh-rohs. If their territory is threatened, they will “scream” with a long and startling “awk!!” that can last up to 20 seconds.

Have you heard a Great Blue Heron? Listen to their sound above, compliments of The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Click here to listen to the sounds of other birds! 

Bird Sounds
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Ami</span> Tue, 10/21/2025 - 18:50
I’m in Pugent Sound area of Washington State. I’ve seen mature Heron twice. Once in Tacoma my neighbor worked at a butcher and brought fish scraps home regularly for the neighborhood crows, etc. driving down the alley behind his house a gigantic and beautiful heron took flight right in front of my car. It was amazing and beautiful, took my breath away. Second time out at my son’s house in Parkland I watched a heron flying over to a tree. Huge and gigantic, making gutteral and loud noises while it came in for a landing. It almost looked like a pterodactyl. Knowing the blue heron can look like a pterodactyl, I knew it had to be a blue heron. It was very magnificent and strange to watch.
<span>Kim Neilsen</span> Thu, 08/10/2023 - 15:10
I built a small water feature by my front patio with waterfall, marsh plants and goldfish. Returning home from work one day last year I spied, what at first I thought was a person by my front door, but was actually a large, mature Heron. Originally I had (7) fish but after Mr Heron's visit I only have (2)
<span>Sandy</span> Thu, 08/10/2023 - 13:22
Here in Florida, they are spotted very frequently. I have a great picture of one that had a small snake in its mouth.
<span>Jerez</span> Tue, 11/10/2020 - 15:27
I live near Puget Sound in Washington. It’s a large estuary inland from the Pacific Ocean, we have eagles and the heron in the neighborhood but I’d never heard their mating call till this day. Amazing. Primitive deep sound. One flew over making the sound and as I stood in awe of their size and flight snd sound, quickly another followed. I’m in a town called Mukilteo NW of Seattle near the Mukilteo ferry. I see them all the time actually, even fairly close distance when traveling the area. I have a video of one catching something to eat up at Laconner WA I’m fascinated by them. And that sound! I’d like a recording of that one sound. It’s quite remarkable.
<span>Brandy Toll</span> Wed, 07/01/2020 - 20:01
There are two young blue heron in the trees on my grandparents property near our pond surrounded by bamboo. The pond doesn't keep any fish at all so the two may enjoy the frogs that live below. Thank you.
<span>Ruth Kelley</span> Wed, 04/15/2020 - 07:36
We live on a tidal marsh called Thalia Creek in Virginia Beach, VA and watch these beauties fishing daily in the creek. Occasionally they come up into the yard and my daughter, a nature enthusiast, fondly named a baby one, "Icky Bicky". So now we refer to them all as Icky Bicky whenever we see them gracefully fly by, hovering low over the water. Beautiful to watch, but their awkward squawk doesn't match their graceful appearance!
<span>Pamela Montoya</span> Sat, 03/02/2019 - 12:28
Saw 1 on these a couple of weeks ago, Utah, Springville.. Have geese too. There.s a lot of them that fly by too. There's fields of grain and wild grass.
<span>Lisa Knight</span> Fri, 06/08/2018 - 22:00
I have a stream running through my backyard and have seen a Great Blue Heron several times. Now it’s summer and I hear him/her squawking! So cool! It’s night so can’t see, but hear him/her! Decatur, GA
<span>Gretchen</span> Thu, 04/19/2018 - 15:50
I saw a blue heron flying away from my small pond in Bridgton, Maine.
<span>Sarah Whicker</span> Tue, 01/09/2018 - 11:18
Living near the Ohio River (halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati) I see these occasionally on the riverbank.