Green Heron

Butorides virescens

A sneaky summer and fall visitor you can search the sloughs for at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge is the Green Heron.

Green Herons are actually a common and widespread species, but they can be so hard to see at first that many would consider them rare. Larger herons tend to stand prominently in open parts of wetlands, but Green Herons tend to be at the edges, in shallow water, or concealed in vegetation. They crouch low so they can wait to surprise fish with a snatch of their blade-like bill. From a distance, the Green Heron is a dark, small (about the size of an American Crow) and stocky bird hunched on slender yellow legs, often hidden behind a tangle of leaves. Seen up close, it is actually a quite striking bird with a velvet-green back, rich chestnut body, and a dark cap (often raised into a short crest). In these birds, the males and the females are the same colors, whereas juvenile Green Herons are more brownish all over, with pale streaking on their neck and spots on the wings. If you’re new to birding, juveniles could be confused with bitterns, which are also brownish all over with neck streaking. If nothing else, the way that these two birds stand will give it away as to which species it is. Bitterns will have their beaks aimed to the sky, helping them mimic the grasses and marsh around them, while Green Herons will be crouched low, beak aimed at the water hunting.

Green Herons live around wooded ponds, marshes, rivers, reservoirs, and estuaries. When

you spot them, they will typically be standing motionless at the water’s edge as they hunt for fish and amphibians. They typically stand on vegetation or solid ground, and they don’t wade as often as larger herons. In flight, these compact herons can look ungainly, often partially uncrooking their necks to give a front-heavy appearance. Their neck can get surprisingly long in order to spear those fish, and when they have their crest up, it can give them a comical look.

In the winter, as far as we know, our local Green Herons migrate to better habitat where the

flowing water isn’t covered with Mexican Water Fern they can’t see through to grab fish. For the Pacific Northwest, they are a coastal breeder. In late summer to fall, they disperse from breeding areas and that is why we see mostly younger birds here on the Refuge. After breeding, they move South as far as Mexico and Central America to overwinter, though a few may stay around if conditions are right- meaning they can get to food.

Green Herons eat mainly small fish such as minnows and goldfish, for example. They also feed on insects, spiders, crustaceans, snails, amphibians, reptiles, and rodents. The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with sticks, bread crusts, insects, or feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish.

This species is one where the male chooses the nest site and also builds the nest, and working together with the female, will defending the territory and brood and feed the

chicks.

Some of you may know the Green Heron for a less desirable reason; Green Herons sometimes pay visits to ornamental fish ponds. A length of drain pipe placed in the pond can provide fish with a place to hide from feeding herons.

Did You Know? Green Herons usually hunt by wading in shallow water, but occasionally they dive for deep-water prey and need to swim back to shore—probably with help from the webs between their middle and outer toes. One juvenile heron was seen swimming gracefully for more than 60 feet, sitting upright “like a little swan,” according to one observer.