The water birds which are here called Wading Birds almost all have long legs to help wade in the swallow waters and enable them to catch fish and other aquatic prey. Many of these are large birds, which size makes them easy to spot, even from a distance. The smaller wading birds, such as the bittern and rail, however, do much better at concealing themselves in the march vegetation environment they frequent.

The larger wading birds have long flexible necks which they coil and then propel its pointed knife like bill at prey with blurring speed. A heron with it′s head folded back to sit on the bird′s shoulders looks like an entirely different bird than when the neck it fully extended. Too, herons often still hunt for prey, waiting for a fish to appear and then propel it′s bill into the water to spear the fish.

All wading birds can swim and briefly dive, however, those birds that do so on a regular basis are listed in the swimming gallery. Herons and Ibis roost in trees, and in a nest that is called a rookery and often there are a dozen or more in the colony. When seen in their rookery, they look incongruous because they are obviously waders, but they find the trees the safest place to nest.

Orders include: Charadriiformes, one family; Ciconiiformes, one family; Cruiformes, one family; Gruiformes, one family; Pelecaniformes, two families; Phoenicopteriformes, one family;

The wading birds included in the gallery are: bittern, cranes, egret, flamingo, heron, ibis, jabiru, jacana, least bittern, limpkin, rail, sora, spoonbill, and stork.

The Limpkin is a monotypic family, which means that in this family, there is but a single animal in the family, genus and this animal is the only species.

046li Limpkin, Aramidae guarauna, L 26 inches

The heron (ardeidae) family includes bittern, egert, and heron.

045gb Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, L 46 inches

044gr Great Egret, Ardea albus, L 39 inches

047am American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus L 28 inches

047gr Green Heron, Butaurus virescens L 18 inches

044ca Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis, L 20 inches

044li Little Egret, Egretta garzetta, L 23 inches

044sn Snowy Egret, Egretta thula, L 24 inches

045li Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea, L 24 inches

045tr Tricolor Heron, Egretta tricolor, L 26 inches

045re Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens L 30 inches

045we Western Reef Heron, Egretta gularis, L 22 inches (African)

048le Least Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis L 13 inches

047ye Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea

047bl Black-crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax

043ja Jabiru, Jabiru mucteria, L 52 inches

043wo Wood Stork, Mycteria americana, L 40 inches

043sa Sandhill Crane, Antigone canadensis, L 42 inches

042wh Whooping Crane, Grus americana, L 52 inches

Rare visitor to south Texas, sometimes nesting in Texas.

049no Northern Jacana, Jacana spinosa, L 9 1/2 inches (Tropical)

Now local in southern Florida, however, most are escapees.

043gr Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus, L 52 inches (Tropical)

049ye Yellow Rail, Coturnicops noveboracensis, L 7 inches

049bl Black Rail Laterrallus jamaicensis, L 6 inches

049so Sora, Porzana carolina, L 9 inches

048ki King Rail, Rallus elegans L 15 inches

048cl Clapper Rail, Rallus crepitans saturatus L 15 inches

049vi Virginia Rail, Rallus Limicola L 9 1/2 inches

The ibis (threskiornithidae) family includes both ibis and spoonbills.

046sc Scarlet Ibis, Eudocimus ruber, L 25 inches (Tropical)

046wh White Ibis, Eudocimus albus L 25 inches

043ro Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja, L 32 inches

046gl Glossy Ibis, Plegadis falcinellus, L 23 inches

046wf White-faced Ibis, Plegadis chihi, L 23 inches