Little Blue Heron with a frog

Egretta caerulea

Little Blue Heron · Staten Island · 5 July 2026

A Little Blue Heron with a frog on Staten Island in July, come up with something too large to swallow whole in a hurry. Little Blue Herons breed in the harbour colonies and fish the freshwater ponds of the outer boroughs, wading slowly and deliberately rather than standing and waiting, which is how this one worked close enough to a well-grown frog to take it.

Slate-blue body, a maroon head and neck, a pale blue bill tipped in black: full adult plumage, quite different from the white first-year birds easy to mistake for a Snowy Egret. The frog is most likely a Bullfrog, though a big Green Frog would look much the same at this range.