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5

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) Alternate name(s): "Green-backed Heron*" German name(s): "Grünreiher" Size: 45-50 cm; wing span 60-70 cm Weight: 210-260 g

Europe: Family Group 5 Family Group 5 Table Great Egret Little Egret Cattle Egret Grey Heron Purple Heron Striated Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Squacco Heron Green Heron Little Bittern Eurasian Spoonbill Glossy Ibis White Stork Black Stork Greater Flamingo Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names German birds home page

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Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Green Herons are small herons with a strong and long neck. Despite their name there is little, if any, green to be found in their plumage. Their cap is purple-black. The sides of the head, the neck and the front are dark chestnut, while the back is dark-grey and the wing coverts are grey, with thin light edge lining. Above and below the lores there are thin white stripes. Many have a creamy stripe down the middle of their front. The eyes are strikingly yellow. The bill is dark-grey. The legs have a greyish-yellow front side and yellow back side. Juveniles have a highly cryptic plumage with copious striation that gradually changes into adult plumage.

Taxonomy, classification See Green Heron at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information The Green Heron is no longer considered to be conspecific with the Striated Heron.

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Green Heron is available HERE . Green Herons are a partly migratory North American species. There are disputes about the exact nature of different races of the Green Heron, of which up to 5 are commonly listed. All these races are found in northern to central America. They are resident in (near-)coastal areas of tropical central and northern America, from Panama in the South to northern California on the American West coast (plus parts of the southern Rocky Mountains) and southern South Carolina on the American East coast. They are also resident in the inland world of the Carribean. In inland areas of central and southern North America, from inland Honduras and Guatemala via inland Mexico to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, they are winter visitors. During the northern summer they extend their breeding range into the entire eastern half of the North American continent, up to about the US/Canadian border, including New Foundland. In the West of the continent they reach southern British Columbia, Canada. Vagrants sometimes cross the North Atlantic towards Europe. In Europe, Green Herons, race "virescens"(?), are only rarely seen as vagrants from North America. Apart from a report from the Cote d'Azure in southern France all sightings have been on the North Sea/Atlantic coastline, from southern England and Wales to the Netherlands and from the coastline of Portugal. There are more reports of the species from the Azores. Green Herons have a preference for small, well-vegetated wetlands with good shelter in which to hide through most of the day, being most active around dawn and dusk.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "virescens" J. Pires reports finding a Green Heron, race "virescens"(?), on Pico Island, Azores, in November 2018. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.

Photos

Race "virescens"(?)

ADULT

Sex unknown

Dorsal view of a Green Heron in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Pico Island, Azores, November 2018]

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