Green Heron G

But if you do happen to find a bold Green Heron that will let you get a closeup look – or if you have some good binoculars and the time to scan the waterline – you will discover a beautiful shorebird that is common all around the Lake Martin area.

Green Herons are about the size of a crow, much smaller than the more famous Great Blue Heron that also lives here. In fact, Green Herons are one of the smallest members of the heron family, standing less than 2 feet tall with a wingspan of about 27 inches.

They usually have yellow eyes and long, yellow legs, though sometimes their eyes and legs can appear more orange than yellow.

Their necks are long and shaped like an “S,” but Green Herons also hold their necks straight when hunting or stretching. When resting, they tuck their long necks in so tightly that it may look like they have no neck at all, a pose that brings to mind the character Gru, the grouchy former supervillain in the Minions movies, who also shares the heron’s long sharp bill.

Green Herons have feathers on their back, wings and crown that may look dark or blue-gray most of the time but in the right light become a deep, iridescent green. Wing feathers are edged with buff coloration, so it’s easy to distinguish each individual feather. Green Herons have the ability to lift their normally smooth crown feathers into crests.

This bird has a chestnut or rust-colored chest and neck with patches or streaks of white below its bill, chest and on its lower belly.

And this bird has a long, straight dagger-like beak that’s mostly gray.

Both male and female Green Herons look alike, though the female is often a little smaller.

Green Herons are called by several common names, including the canoer’s favorite Fly-Up-The-Creek, as well as Skeow, Green-backed Heron, Little Green Heron and Swamp Squaggin. The scientific name for this bird is Butorides virescens, which is a combination of Latin and Greek words that mean “greenish resembling a bittern.” Bitterns are closely related medium-sized herons.

These birds are native from northern South America all the way to southern Canada, though in the U.S. they are only year-round residents in the Deep South coastal areas. Here in the Lake Martin area, Green Herons can be found during every month of the year.

During the spring and summer breeding season, Green Herons gather into large flocks and migrate north from the Mississippi Valley throughout the eastern U.S. and up the West Coast.

When startled into flight, Green Herons punch out a harsh, high-pitched “skeow” call, which they also tend to make as they

Nature Of The Lake

BY KENNETH BOONE

land in the next spot. If you want to find a Green Heron, you should look up its flight call online and listen for it in the wild … you’ve probably heard it before and just didn’t know what bird was making it. Other Green Heron sounds include a raspy series of clucks and a low call that sounds a lot like a dog barking.

Green Herons are waterbirds, adapted for the shoreline. They live around rivers and creeks, lakes and swampy places – both freshwater and saltwater – where they stalk and ambush-hunt their favorite prey: small fish in the shallows, which make up about half of their diet. Frogs, invertebrates, insects, worms, snails and other small animals account for the other half of their menu.

Although Green Herons are shorebirds, they have been observed diving into the water after prey and are able to paddle back to shore on the surface using their webbed feet.

Green Herons are both patient and crafty. They stand stock-still with their necks extended in the shallows, and when a small fish or other animal comes close, they strike down fast with their sharp bills and snap up their prey. These birds have also been observed dropping small feathers, insects or bits of sticks in the water as bait to draw curious fish into range – they are one of a very few bird species known to use tools.

Previous Pages: With its webbed feet, the Green Heron has been observed paddling back to shore after diving for prey; Clockwise from Below: The bird looks smaller than its 2-foot length when its neck is tucked in; The Green Heron's wingspan measures about 27 inches; Green Herons have heavily streaked necks, chests and underbellies; At rest, the bird resembles the former supervillain, Gru, from the Minions movies; Green Herons have long, dagger-like bills.

If you are watching a Green Heron and get inside his personal space, the bird will usually let you know you’re too close by flicking his tail and raising his crest … and then taking flight if you don’t back off.

Most of the time, Green Herons are quiet, secretive, solitary birds, but during the mating season, they find a single partner and parent one or even two broods a year. And sometimes these birds will build their nests near other Green Herons or other birds in small colonies.

When they are courting, the males perform several elaborate and aggressive mating dances at a nesting site, flapping wildly, sounding off loudly, snapping their bills and dancing from foot to foot while the females look on and try to decide if he’s the one. The Stretch Display involves the male stretching his neck tall and then bending backwards until his bill almost touches his back, then swaying back and forth while bulging his eyes calling “aaroo-aaroo.” If the gal chooses him, she makes a similar silent Stretching Display and joins him at the nesting site for some heavy feather nibbling and bill snapping.

Once that’s been decided, the happy couple will begin building a nest, which can be on the ground or up to 30 feet in a tree, usually near water. The male collects and moves sticks and other materials to the nesting site while the female actually builds the nest. Copulation takes place during construction. When the nest is complete, females will lay two to six greenish colored eggs, and she and her partner take turns sitting on the eggs. About three weeks later, the chicks hatch out. Both adults tend to the helpless babies until they’re ready to fly another three weeks later. Even after the fledglings leave their nest, parents continue to bring food to the young herons for up to a month to get them off to a strong start.

The oldest recorded wild Green Heron was banded as a youngster in Texas and recaptured just shy its 9th birthday.

Some information for this article came from allaboutbirds.org, outdooralabama.com and animaldiversity.org.