The Great Green Heron

The great green heron
Identification

The Great Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a small, dark heron with a distinctive appearance. From a distance, it appears as a dark, stocky bird hunched on slender yellow legs at the water’s edge, often hidden behind a tangle of leaves. Up close, it reveals a striking bird with a velvet-green back, rich chestnut body, and a dark cap often raised into a short crest.

Physical Characteristics

Length: 16-22 inches (41-56 cm)
Weight: Not specified
Plumage: Dark green back, chestnut neck and body, dark cap
Legs and feet: Yellow
Bill: Dagger-like, dark gray
Habitat and Behavior

Found in riparian zones, wetlands, ponds, lakes, and human-made canals and ditches
Prefers dense vegetation and often crouches patiently to surprise fish with a snatch of its bill
May use small items as bait to lure in fish
Forages both diurnally and nocturnally, adapting to the rhythm of the tides
Intolerant of other birds, including conspecifics, when feeding and does not forage in groups
Diet

Mainly eats small fish, frogs, and aquatic arthropods
Also takes invertebrates and vertebrate prey, including leeches, earthworms, dragonflies, damselflies, waterbugs, grasshoppers, spiders, crayfish, prawns, mice, other rodents, lizards, tadpoles, and snakes
In urban areas, may eat goldfish
Breeding and Nesting

Pairs usually nest on their own, although sometimes a few pairs will nest near each other
Nests are often found in isolated small ponds or areas with dense vegetation
The species is known to be intolerant of other birds, including conspecifics, when breeding and nesting
Call and Vocalizations

Loud and sudden “kyow” call
Series of more subdued “kuk” calls
During courtship, males give a “raah-rahh” call with wide-open bill, make noisy wingbeats, and produce “whoom-whoom-whoom” calls in flight
May also call “roo-roo” to females before landing again.