(Part of the) common name of most species of the family Ardeidae (order Ciconiiformes) and in the plural the general term for this cosmopolitan family (63 species, mainly (sub)tropical distributed). The name is often used (in Europe) without qualification for the in the Palaearctic widely distributed Grey or Common Heron Ardea cinera. Another common name used for some species is 'egret'. Herons are moderate to large birds (up to 143 cm), but bill and neck account for much of the total length. The legs are moderately to very long with four long, slender toes (not webbed), and a partly bare tibia (lower leg). With a few exceptions, the bill is rather long, straight and pointed, and the lores (see 'head') are bare. They have short tails and broad wings, and during flight (looks laboured) the neck is retracted and the legs extended behind. The usual body posture is upright with retracted neck when the bird is at rest. Herons have a loosely textured plumage with simple colour patterns (mostly with grey, blue, white, purple or green); some species are entirely white. Many species have long plumages on the head (crest!), neck or back, but usually only in breeding dress. Normally no other seasonal differences exist and sexes are generally alike, often with more intense colours in the male. Herons are typical wading birds and most of them are found in the vicinity of water, usually rivers and lakes but also quiet bays of the sea. They live mostly on fish, but also other water animals are taken. The characteristic feeding method is to stand motionless at the water's edge or in the shallow until the prey comes within striking distance and grasping (not impaling) it, but it may also be sought by more active wading. The food is swallowed in one piece and pellets of undigested material are disgorged. All herons are gregarious in the breeding season and some throughout the year. Breeding is in (large) colonies (except tiger herons), sometimes including several ciconiiform species, and the nests are ordinarily platforms of sticks at considerable height in trees. Both sexes incubate. Their sexual displays are varied and elaborate (aerial and non-aerial, vocal and non-vocal elements) and during that period the males of many species have strongly coloured soft-parts (around the eye, lores, legs,etc.). Within the herons, some groups can be recognized: Typical herons (herons and egrets), the well-known day-feeding herons and egrets with most developed breeding plumage and the highest gregariousness (e.g. the white Little Egret); night herons (Nycticoracini, 7 species cosmopolitan), medium-sized, shorter legged and -necked herons with heavier bill and nocturnal feeding habits; tiger herons (Tigriornithini, in tropical forests), the most primitive herons with shorter legs and stouter in shape and a characteristic barred pattern of plumage, which live secretively and nest solitary; Boat-billed Heron Cochlearius of tropical America; Bitterns (Ixobrychus and Botaurus), reed-dwelling birds of temperate regions, often crepuscular.

Alternative forms for herons : egret, egrets, heron.