I thought I saw a great blue heron... what did I really see?

Factual Questions
1

Day before yesterday I went for a long walk outside of my hotel, from Kirchheim unter Teck to Jesinger, along the Lauter, a stream or small river that apparently feeds into the Neckar. I saw what looked to the world to me like a great blue heron, which are very common where I live, but I was pretty sure they don’t exist outside of captivity in southern Germany. I checked Wikipedia which seems to confirm this, although apparently they’ll end up occasionally in parts of southern Europe.

This was a big bird, even more bluish in color than most I see in Florida. Probably 3-4 feet tall (maybe more with neck outstretched), fairly uniform in color except for a sort of light and dark stripe along the head. IIRC it had a smallish “crown”, some feathers that extended back beyond the head, like a jay or cardinal (or heron), not the rounded head of most storks. It was looking for food in the water, which was pretty fast moving (we don’t get that in Florida, either). It was also fairly skittish, as after I looked at it for a few seconds it flew away.

Just wondering what kind of bird this might have been. I had sort of forgotten about it yesterday, then this morning, early, there was a strange bird call outside my room (which is also on the stream) that sounded more like a pirate than a crow. More of an “Arrrrrhh” than a “caw”, if you know what I mean. Probably just a crow.

2

Could it have been a grey heron? They’re about a meter high, are native to Europe, and while they’re grey and not blue, it’s possible you mixed up the color? Here’s a picture of one:

http://www.beolens.co.uk/ashleysbirdpics.htm

3

That could be it. Blue herons are also about that color, a bluish grey or greyish blue, depending on how you look at it. The one I saw was more bluish than the picture you linked, but not by much. Could have been the angle I saw it from, the light, etc. Thanks.

4

We actually call the grey heron blue in Dutch, and we have a whole bunch of them. I guess that must be what you saw.

5

I’d agree that it was pretty certainly a Gray Heron, which is the European equivalent of the American Great Blue.

6

I’ve seen both many times, and they are pretty damn similar. I simply assumed the Euro ones were great blues until I got a local bird book.

7

I believe the 2 species in question are a superspecies. Wikipedia confirms, along with a third member from South America.