This great blue heron is ventilating.
The extremely rare whooping crane and sandhill crane are larger,
but the great blue is the largest shorebird.
(At least it's the tallest. The white pelican,
which winters in Florida, is another very large bird.)
More than you ever wanted to know about avian respiration:
http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/birdrespiration.html
The extremely rare whooping crane and sandhill crane are larger, but the great blue is the largest shorebird.
(At least it's the tallest. The white pelican,
which winters in Florida, is another very large bird.)
More than you ever wanted to know about avian respiration:
http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/birdrespiration.html