Green Heron - Photos by Bruce Dayton - Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

ORDER: Ciconiiformes
FAMILY: Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, Bitterns - 12 Species)
SPECIES: Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Green Heron
The Green Heron is a crow-sized heron. They have been observed sitting on a limb over water, then jabbing or diving at any fish that passes by. When disturbed they often nervously flick their short tail and their shaggy crest sticks up as illustrated in one of the images below.
SIZE	The Green Heron is a stocky, small (16-22") heron.
DESCRIPTION	Adults have a bluish-gray back and wings, a deep chestnut neck with a white line down the throat and underparts. They have a crown that is greenish/black and have short yellow legs. Sexes are similar, but the female is smaller.
NESTING	Clutch size ranges from 3-6 eggs, which are incubated between 18 to 22 days by both sexes. The Green Heron is a normally a solitary nester. They usually build their nest of twigs and small sticks in shrub trees or on a clump of tuft in emergent vegetation. The nest is often built near a water source, such as a lake, pond, stream or other body of water. The chicks are fed regurgitated food by both parents.
RANGE	The Green Heron breeds in the eastern U.S. from Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico and to the Great Plains, Texas and New Mexico. It winters in southern U.S. and southward.
HABITAT	They habitat just about anywhere there is a body of water, such as swamps, streams, marshes, ponds and lakes.
DIET	They mainly eat small fish, crawfish, frogs and aquatic insects. They stalk their prey by moving very slowly along the shallow part of a body of water or they may crouch near water waiting for the food to come to them.

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The images on this web page are copyrighted © 2003 - 2007 by Bruce Dayton. I want to share my photos to promote conservation and to help people identify and learn about the birds and other creatures that live with us on the North American continent. Please do not use any of my work in any non-profit or for-profit project without first getting written permission from me. You can ask for permission by emailing me at webmaster@wildlifeofnorthamerica.info. All reproductions must bear an appropriate credit.




Green Heron

Groton Township Tompkins County, New York


GrHr_043A_012548	GrHr_043A_000325


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Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge Seneca County, New York


GrHr_043A_039059	GrHr_043A_039713

Turnstone Drawing by Louis Agassiz Fuertes