Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, and Green Herons – In the 1995 movie Pocahantas, our heroine proclaims in the song Colors of the Wind by Judy Kuhn, that herons (and otters) are her friends and we are all connected to each other in circle and a hoop that never ends. That is the certainly the case at Walt Disney World where we have seen four different types of herons, particularly standing on the shorelines or wading in the shallows of Disney World’s many bodies of water. These are the Great Blue Heron, the Tricolored Heron, the Little Blue Heron, and the Green Heron.

The most common and easily identifiable member of the Heron family at Walt Disney World is the Great Blue Heron. These are large and beautiful birds that are around four feet tall with wing spans of around six feet. Great Blue Herons have blue/gray plumage with black and white feathers on their heads, yellowish beaks, and black legs. While they can be seen just about anywhere at Disney World, the best places to see them are above and around Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon and at Fort Wilderness Resort and Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa.

Keep in mind that any large white bird you see at Disney World that is similar in size and appearance to a Great Blue Heron is a Great Egret, not a Great White Heron. While sources disagree on whether or not the Great White Heron is a subspecies of the Great Blue Heron or a genetically distinct bird in its own right, Great White Herons are rare are primarily clustered in the far south of Florida around the Everglades and the Florida Keys.

In addition to Great Blue Herons, two smaller and equally stunning Herons with blue plumage are also common sites along and above the waterways of Disney World, particularly around Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon–the Tricolored Heron and the Little Blue Heron. Tricolored Herons and Little Blue Herons are considerably smaller than Great Blue Herons with a typical wingspan of around 40 inches versus more than 70 inches for a Great Blue. The blue plumage on both the Tricolored Heron and the Little Blue Heron is normally a deeper blue than that found on Great Blue Herons which trend toward lighter blue/gray plumage.

Tricolored Herons have blue plumage on the neck, back, head, and wings and have white lines down the neck and white bellies and it is the white plumage that most easily differentiates a Tricolored Heron from a Little Blue Heron. Additionally, Tricolored Herons have yellowish bills with black tips while Little Blue Herons have light blue bills with black tips.

Juvenile Little Blue Herons have white plumage and can be easily mistake for Cattle Egrets and Snowy Egrets, two other common white birds seen at Disney World. The best way to tell them all apart is by looking at the beaks and legs. Young Little Blue Herons have black bills and yellowish legs while Cattle Egrets have yellow bills and legs and Snowy Egrets have black bills and black legs but yellow feet.

The smallest of the four herons commonly seen at Disney World is the Green Heron with a typical wingspan of less than 30 inches. The attractive birds have green to dark green plumage with yellowish legs and black bills for the adults and yellowish bills for the juveniles.

When riding a boat between your resort and the Magic Kingdom or while walking along the shores of Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon or along the path between Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, keep an eye for any of these beautiful birds standing on the shoreline or wading in the shallows or maybe even nesting in the trees overhead.

Also, don’t forget that one of the play areas at Disney’s new Lakeshore Lodge set to open in 2027 will be called Heron Shores drawing inspiration from the song Colors of the Wind, just one example of theming from the movie Pocahantas that is likely to be prevalent throughout Disney Vacation Club’s 19^th resort.