From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_153_aheronher‧on /ˈherən/ noun [countable] 
HBBa large bird with very long legs and a long beak, that lives near water
HBBa large bird with very long legs and a long beak, that lives near waterExamples from the Corpus
heron• And bird watchers find quiet places to spot a heron or woodpecker.• A heron lifted itself delicately off a sewage pipe and flew away.• Traveling south along the Yellowstone River, you will pass blue heron, ducks, geese and trumpeter swans.• On the walls are framed prints of herons and egrets in cypress swamps and watery glades.• Every sundown, he told us, thousands of Java pond herons converge here for the night.• Small fish soon rise to collect them and as they do, the heron neatly spears and swallows them.• Unfortunately herons like to fish in concert, and a plastic replica can actually serve to attract others.• A big white heron gallops out of the creek on his gawky orange legs and gobbles it up.Origin heron (1300-1400) Old French hairon 