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Green Heron

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Green Herons are solitary birds that crouch on logs and branches in the shadows along wooded streams and ponds, waiting for a fish. And they’re real fisherman, too, sometimes dropping a twig or insect on the surface of the water to bait their prey.

Green Heron
BUTORIDES VIRESCENS
• Length: 18 inches
• Wingspan: 26 inches
• Season: Summer/year-round
More about Green Herons.
Where they are, and when.

They are a small, stocky heron with a long, straight bill, rufous chest, blue-black crown and bright yellow eyes. You have to look hard for the green on the Green Heron; it’s more of a subtle bluish-green sheen sometimes discernible on their backs. Juveniles have a streaked neck similar to the American Bittern but their color is darker overall.

In addition to fish, Green Herons will make a meal of crustaceans, frogs, lizards and insects.

Although solitary most of the time, Green Herons will nest in small, loose colonies in wetlands. Their nests are a basket of sticks built in a small tree or shrub overlooking the water. They lay three to six pale green eggs.

About Scott Clark

I’m former journalist working toward a Ph.D. in Ecology. My interest in the natural history of my surroundings reaches back to my early days beachcombing on the Jersey coast, rowing my boat on a quiet lake in Missouri and, more recently, discovering the mountains and backwoods of Montana, where I was born.