GREEN HERON

Butorides virescens

Green Herons are a small species of native heron that live year-round in much of the western and southeastern coasts of the US as well as Mexico, and migrating and breeding elsewhere in the US, Caribbean islands, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Venezuela, Suriname, and Peru.

Green herons hunt in shallow water, often at the water’s edge, and sometimes swoop into deep water for small fish, aquatic insects, snails, crustaceans, amphibians, rodents, and reptiles.

1. “Green Heron.” Missouri Department of Conservation, https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/green-heron. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.
2. Green Heron Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/overview. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.