A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. The European white stork (Ciconia alba) is the best known. Differences Between Cranes & Herons; Empower Her. My friend Tavie posted this photo to my Facebook page with a simple question: is this a heron, egret or a crane?. Crane (noun) Our waterfowl collection is one of the largest of any zoo in North America. Stork (noun) Any one of several species of large wading birds of the family Ciconidæ, having long legs and a long, pointed bill. The Saint Louis Zoo is well-known for its diverse array of bird species. Shape The World. Its name comes from its distinctive, 12-inch long, 5-inch wide beak. of Derrick. As nouns the difference between egret and stork is that egret is any of various wading birds of the genera egretta'' or ''ardea that includes herons, many of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season while stork is a large wading bird with long legs and a long beak of the family ciconiidae. There are many varieties of herons in North America, including the great blue heron, a color phase of the great blue called the great white heron, the little blue heron, green heron, black-crowned night heron and yellow-crowned night heron. National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Watch program is all about helping people identify the animals they’re seeing, so I thought I’d turn my answer into this blog post to encourage you to get outside and see what creatures you can identify in your neighborhood. The shoebill stork -- Balaeniceps rex -- looks prehistoric. The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa.It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. Despite having characteristics of the heron and stork families, cranes are actually unrelated to these birds and are much more closely related to Moorhens and Coots. Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. This heron is migratory outside the tropical parts of its extensive range, where it is a permanent resident. This stork stands up to 4 feet tall. Egret is a see also of stork. In one form it consists of a projecting arm or jib of timber or iron, a rotating post or base, and the necessary tackle, windlass, etc. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes. Be Her Village. Birds at our Zoo. Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo was "the first wildlife institution in the North America to hatch a shoebill stork chick, and just the second institution worldwide." They are found both in the Old World and in America, and belong to Ciconia and several allied genera. Cranes are members of the “Gruidae” family – a very ancient bird family that has been around for about 40 million years. ; - so called from a fancied similarity between its arm and the neck of a crane See Illust. Difference between Crane and Heron; Differences between a Dove and a Pigeon; Difference Between Pelican And Stork; Difference Between Beak and Bill; Difference between Pigeon and Dove; Differences between a Swan and a Goose; Difference Between White Bass and Striped Bass The North American population winters in Mexico, the southern United States, Central America, and the West Indies, and the Old World birds winter in tropical Africa and southern Asia.