Grey Heron (Wild Animals by Papo)

Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972

If you ever have the chance and time to observe a heron on the hunt, take a moment (or half an hour) to watch this so common and at once so awesome creature. While some groups of animals have incorporated the combination of freezing, glacial movement, and sudden strikes into their hunting techniques, herons have somewhat perfected this strategy.

On the typical hunt, the heron flies into its designated hunting ground (a water edge, meadow, or even urban areas of any kind), slowly begins to slowly walk while keeping a keen eye on any suspicious movement and freezes once it made out a potential prey. Depending on the kind of prey and distance, the heron then brings itself closer or into striking position with astonishing slow speed and then freezes still. The position may look most uncomfortable and strong winds may blow, but the bird is capable of holding its position firm for an extended time that most humans find hard to endure. Then, suddenly, it strikes its s-fold neck forward and either stabs or grabs its prey. This can be fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, or mammals up to the size of small rabbits.

Despite its wide distribution and familiarity the grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is represented by very few figures, but Papo mended this situation with their recent release (new for 2021). In short, it is a splendid figure and a sure choice for any collector, but let’s have a closer look.

The figure is assembled from four parts (body, “legs”, and base), but the fitting seams are hardly noticeable and probably worth it, as they allowed the “legs” (in fact feet) to be made of a sturdier plastic than the body. This hopefully prevents the figure’s legs from bending and resulting in toppling over, as can be the case with another long-legged Papo bird, the marabou stork. Nevertheless, the legs are a bit thicker than they are in the real bird. But stability (for collectors and as a toy) sure justifies this concession, and in fact I think most people won’t even notice them being too strong. The toes on the other hand feel a tad bit too short, but also not too a degree that it seriously detracts from the authenticity of the figure.

Overall, body shape and paint job is true to the areal animal and as good as it gets for a mass-produced figure. The plumage is finely sculpted with clear feathering at the wings’ and tail’s edges and a shaggy back. The grey heron is not a particular fancy bird, but Papo did a great job in representing its somewhat bland coloration. I especially value that they did not leave out the striping along the throat and the grey patches between beak and eye.

What’s more to say….. oh yeah, maybe that the figure is much bigger than I had hoped for. It stands 8.7 cm tall in total and measures 9.5 cm in direct line for beak to tail tip. This unfortunately bring this otherwise near perfect figure into no scale with its contemporaries like the aforementioned marabou stork or the Papo pheasant. While I am no scale enthusiast, I had preferred it to be smaller. That being said, most bird figures are in no fitting scale with figures of mammals or other animals they could share a habitat. So if you do not count scale as too important, I highly recommend this figure.