wading bird

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A long-legged bird, such as a crane, heron, or stork, that frequents shallow water, especially in search of food.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Any of various long-legged birds, of the order Ciconiiformes, such as cranes, herons, or storks, that wade in shallow water in search of food.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any of many long-legged birds that wade in water in search of food