Great blue herons must have the patience of Job. Because if you watch them carefully when they’re hunting, these tall, stately birds, standing knee-deep in water, can freeze like a statue for interminable minutes before moving.

Then, bam! They use that long, sinuous neck and rapier-like beak to stab their prey, toss whatever they’ve caught in the air, and swallow it whole.

That’s the great blue heron’s game. Sit tight until fish don’t see you anymore, then spear them.

Common to our Connecticut shorelines, rivers and marshes, great blues eat mostly fish, but also have an appetite for snakes, frogs, mice and insects.

“On really high tides they will hunt for birds like rails (a hen-shaped marsh bird that eats aquatic plants and seeds) that get pushed up out of the vegetation by the water,” Chris

Elphick, assistant professor of ecology and biology at UConn, said in an email.

“In California, I’ve seen them gather – along with egrets – in rice fields, and as the fields get flooded – the flood waters push out rats and mice along the edge, and the herons stand around picking them off,” he said.

In flight, great blue herons can cruise 20-30 mph, flying with their feet extended behind them and their head and neck tucked into a comfortable “S” shape.

On the ground, these striking birds are recognized by their greyish-blue feathers, a black head plume and long yellow bill. Great blue herons stand four feet tall and have a wingspan of six feet. They are the largest herons in North America and have a lifespan of about 15 years.

Disturb these big fellas from their hunting and they’ll usually emit a surprisingly loud, deep croak. It’s a strange, guttural sound that you might hear if you were on the film set of Jurassic Park, listening to dinosaurs bellowing around you.

And when I see great blue herons stalk their prey, I’m reminded of how prehistoric they look, with their slim bodies, long legs (maybe it’s the way they walk) and huge, T-Rex-like three-toed feet.

It turns out, great blue herons are not far removed from that era, because scientists now believe that today’s birds are directly descended from two-legged dinosaurs, known as theropods.

Finally, great blue herons nest in boisterous colonies, sometimes numbering up to 400 pairs of birds, and the activity is fascinating to watch.

“If you visit a colony, look for elaborate courtship and pair-bonding displays that include a ritualized greeting, stick transfers and nest relief ceremony in which the birds erect their plumes and ‘clapper’ their bill tips,” according to the web site All About Birds.

Currently, there are about 83,000 breeding great blue herons in North America, and their population is relatively healthy and stable, according to the National Audubon Society.

Bill Hobbs is a resident of Stonington and a lifelong birder. He can be reached for comments at whobbs246@gmail.com.