"Green-backed heron" is a collective term for certain herons. Small and compact among herons, these birds often feature green plumage – rare among the

Ardeidae The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

–, in particular on the back, wings and scapulars. They were formerly believed to make up a single

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

''Butorides striata'', but are now treated as three largely allopatric species: *

Striated heron The striated heron (''Butorides striata'') also known as mangrove heron, little green heron or green-backed heron, is a small heron, about 44 cm tall. Striated herons are mostly sedentary and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. The ...

, ''Butorides striata'' – Widespread throughout the Old World tropics and in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

(Note that the

grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...

of the specific name has been corrected from ''striatus'') * Lava heron, ''Butorides sundevalli'' –

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

off

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

* Green heron, ''Butorides virescens'' – Widespread from temperate North America south to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

These herons are tool-using animals. They are regularly seen picking up objects to use as a

fishing lure A fishing lure is a broad type of artificial angling baits that are replicas designed to mimic real prey animals and attract the attention of predatory fish, using appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or loud ...

, attracting

prey fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the fo ...

.Norris (1975), Boswall (1983), Walsh ''et al.'' (1985), Robinson (1994) Image:Striated Heron (Butorides striata) -Santa Cruz -Galapagos.jpg,

on the

Image:Lava heron (Butorides sundevalli) -fishing on Galapagos.jpg, Lava heron on the Galápagos Islands Image:Butorides virescens at Tarpon Springs.jpg, Green heron in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Footnotes

References

* Boswall, J. (1983): Tool-using and related behavior in birds: more notes. ''Avicultural Magazine'' 89: 94-108. * Norris, D. (1975): Green Heron (''Butorides virescens'') uses feather lure for fishing. ''American Birds'' 29: 652–654. * Robinson, S.K. (1994): Use of bait and lures by Green-backed herons in Amazonian Peru. ''

Wilson Bulletin ''The Wilson Journal of Ornithology'' (until 2006 ''The Wilson Bulletin'') is a quarterly scientific journal published by the Wilson Ornithological Society. Both the society and its journal were named after American ornithologist Alexander Wilson ...

'' 106(3): 569-571 * Walsh, J.F.; Grunewald, J. & Grunewald, B. (1985): Green-backed herons (''Butorides striatus'') possibly using a lure and using apparent bait. '' J. Ornithol.'' 126: 439–442.

External links

Green heron fishing with lure
on YouTube {{Animal common name Butorides Herons Obsolete bird taxa Birds by common name