Green Heron

Butorides virescens
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon spring and summer visitor to Lagunita. May nest in trees on campus, though no nest has been found there.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
MF
I: 21-25 DAYS
SEMIALTRICIAL 1
SHRUB
0 - 20 feet
(0 - 30 feet)
MF
2-4
(2-7)
MONOG
F: 34-35 DAYS
MF
INSECTS
AQUATIC
INVERTS
BREEDING: Forested margins of ponds, rivers, lakes, marshes, swamps, mangroves. Occ 2 broods.
DISPLAYS: Raises crest when excited. Male erects neck plumes, swells throat, and calls while strutting (hopping from foot to foot) before female. Territorial display includes forward stretch exposing red mouth lining while calling.
NEST: In absence of trees and shrubs, on tussock in emergent veg. Usu concealed, flat, of interwoven sticks (occ green) and twigs near or over water. Usu unlined or occ lined with finer materials after laying.
EGGS: Light greenish/bluish-green. 1.5" (38 mm).
DIET: Fish, insects, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, lower vertebrates. Mostly fish in late summer. Young fed solid regurgitant.
CONSERVATION: Winters s through Antilles to n S.A. Common in most of U.S., but locally rare in w.
NOTES: Usu solitary, occ small colony. Young hatch asynchronously, climb expertly; tended by adults for >1 month after leaving nest. Forages on territory by slowly stalking prey or crouching and waiting for food to come by; occ rakes shallow water bottom with foot to stir up prey. Formerly known as Little Green Heron and Green-backed Heron.
ESSAYS: Tool Using; Nest Lining; Visual Displays; Dabblers vs. Divers.
REFERENCES: Hancock and Kushlan, 1984.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).