Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Aves

Green-Backed Heron Butorides striatus

The Green-Backed Heron is usually a secretive species, slinking among dense marsh vegetation and feeding mainly at night. It uses its powerful, stabbing bill to catch frogs and small fish. It lives worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. During mating season, Green-Backed Herons congregate in small loose groups to build their nests in low trees or bushes overhanging water. They are clumsy nest builders; one might as good a look at the 2-4 eggs from beneath the loose pile of twigs as from above it.

~A Fly in the Sky © 1996