Green Heron

Butorides VirescensOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)
Green Heron Portrait
  Splitbar
Range Map for Green Heron

Overview

Green Heron: Small heron with gray-green upperparts. Head, neck, upper breast are chestnut-brown, belly is paler brown. Head has green-black cap with small crest. Throat is white and neck has white central stripe. Bill is two-toned with dark upper mandible and yellow lower mandible. Direct flight.

Range and Habitat

Green Heron: Breeds across most of the U.S.; spends winters in the southern U.S. south to Venezuela, Panama, and the West Indies. Preferred habitats include shoreline habitats along rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds.

Splitbar

Listen:

Your computer does not have flash installed, please visit Macromedia.com to get flash.

Voice Text

"qua qua"

Splitbar

Related Birds:

Black-crowned Night-Heron
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Little Blue Heron
Reddish Egret
Tricolored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Belted Kingfisher
Common Moorhen
Virginia Rail
Green Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher
.

All contents © Copyright 2003-2005 Mitch Waite Group. All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group. Privacy Policy

Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Family Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)_blue
Species Butorides Virescens
Length18 - 22 Inches
Wingspan26 Inches

Green Heron

Green Heron: Small heron with gray-green upperparts. Head, neck, upper breast are chestnut-brown, belly is paler brown. Head has green-black cap with small crest. Throat is white and neck has white central stripe. Bill is two-toned with dark upper mandible and yellow lower mandible. Direct flight.

● Song: "qua qua"

● Foraging & Feeding: Green Heron: Diet consists of frogs, fish, snails, tadpoles, crayfish, crabs, crickets, dragonflies, water bugs, small snakes, and mice. Stands motionless with head cocked and neck extended waiting for prey; sometimes dives into the water to catch fish.

● Breeding & nesting: Green Heron: Two to seven pale green or blue green eggs are laid in a flat nest made of sticks and leaves, usually built in a tree near water 10 to 15 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 19 to 21 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Green Heron: Little Blue Heron is larger and lacks brown head and neck.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with slow steady arched wing beats.
Green Heron Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Green Heron: Breeds across most of the U.S.; spends winters in the southern U.S. south to Venezuela, Panama, and the West Indies. Preferred habitats include shoreline habitats along rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationStable and common
MigrationSome migrate
Weight7.5 Ounces