Green Heron

A peek at Florida's Nature

Green Heron

The Green Heron is a stout brown bird with a black cap. It gets its name from the greenish feathers on its head, back and wings. One of the shorter members of the heron family, the Green Heron is only 16 to 18 inches tall. It has a chestnut brown neck with white stripes from its throat to its belly. It has a dark, pointed bill. Its yellow legs turn orange during breeding time.

Adult with green feathers on its head, back and wings

The Green Heron's neck is fairly long, but it is usually kept tucked. Like other herons, this bird eats small fish, frogs and insects. But unlike the wading types of herons, the Green Heron prefers to crouch motionless and wait for its food. It sits on a rock or a low branch and leans over the water until it spies its prey. Suddenly it darts its head forward and snatches the food with its pointed bill. The Green Heron sometimes uses bait to catch fish by dropping an insect or a twig onto the water to draw the fish within striking distance.

A Green Heron crouches on a sea wall
ready to snatch some food

Male and female Green Herons look similar, but the female is a little smaller and has duller coloring than the male. Young Green Herons are more brown than the adults and have bluish-gray backs. The young ones also have white streaks on their chest and neck.

Green Herons live in wet areas such as swamps and marshes, or at the edges of lakes or ponds. They are year round residents in Florida and are common migrators throughout many areas of the U.S.

Young Green Heron with bluish-gray back

The photos on this page were taken in
Palm Harbor, Florida