Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

A large, greyish heron of wetland habitats. Told in flight by its uniform grey underwing. Adult has mostly white head and neck, with black eye stripe ending in a wispy plume. Foreneck streaked black, with broad, black bands on either side of breast and belly, often showing as black shoulder patches. Bill yellow (orange-pin in pre-breeding birds). Legs yellow (flushed red in pre-breeding birds).
Juveniles duller, with rather plain head, lacking black flanks. Bill yellow-brown. White ear coverts. Pale flanks and yellow upper legs.

90 – 100 cm. 1.1 – 2 kg.

Common resident and local nomad at pans, dams, slow-flowing rivers, lagoons, near shallow vleis, estuaries and sheltered coastlines with rocky shores and rock pools.
Breeds colonially in reeds or trees, often with other herons, egrets, cormorants and ibises.
Stands stock-still much of the time. Stalks and stabs fish, amphibians, crabs, insects and even other birds.

Birds of Southern Africa (2020).