BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Butorides virescens
Green Heron
| Scientific Name: | Butorides virescens (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Green Heron | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-GRHE | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Oct 2025) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S3S4B (Mar 2015) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Blue | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | A small stocky wading bird with relatively short legs (dull yellow; bright orange in breeding males), long straight bill, and short tail; adult has a mostly deep chestnut neck, greenish-black crown, green/blue-gray upperparts, and white mid-ventral throat region; immature is browner above, with the white throat and underparts heavily streaked with brown; total length is about 46 cm, wingspan 66 cm (NGS 1983). | ||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Clutch size usually is 4-5 in north, 2-3 in south. Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 19-21 days. Young fly at 21-23 days, but still fed by parents. Sometimes two broods/year. May breed at 1 year. Usually nests singly. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Generally solitary or in pairs. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Northern populations are migratory; move north mostly in April-May, south August-November. In the western U.S., not all birds migrate. Some birds in the southern U.S. probably are sedentary or nearly so. In the north, apparently migrates by day. In Costa Rica, migrates mostly along the Caribbean coast, September-October and April-May (Stiles and Skutch 1989). May nest a kilometer away from a foraging area. |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Anthropogenic / Urban/Suburban / Facultative - occasional use
Lakes / Lake / Facultative - frequent use Lakes / Pond/Open Water / Facultative - frequent use Other Unique Habitats / Estuary / Facultative - occasional use Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - frequent use Riparian / Riparian Herbaceous / Facultative - frequent use Riparian / Riparian Shrub / Facultative - frequent use Stream/River / Stream/River / Facultative - occasional use Wetland / Marsh / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Swamp / Facultative - frequent use |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Swamps, mangroves, marshes, and margins of ponds, rivers, lakes, and lagoons. Eggs are laid in platform nest in tree, thicket, or bush over water or sometimes in dry woodland or orchard; nests in both freshwater and brackish situations. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Carnivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature Piscivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Eats fishes, crustaceans, insects, and other small animals; usually forages in shallow water (Palmer 1962). May perch motionless on snag low over water while waiting for prey to approach (Raffaele 1983). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Crepuscular: Adult, Immature
Diurnal: Adult, Immature |
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 46/ / 212 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | BREEDS: southwestern British Columbia, southern Utah, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, southern Quebec, and New Brunswick south through the eastern U.S., West Indies and Middle America to eastern Panama, islands off the northern coast of Venezuela, and Tobago (AOU 1983, 1993). WINTERS: western Washington (rarely), coastal and southeastern California, southern Arizona, southern Texas, southern Louisiana, northern Florida, and South Carolina south throughout breeding range to northern Colombia and northern Venezuela (AOU 1983, 1993). In the U.S., the highest winter densities occur in Florida and in the San Joaquin Valley of California, especially between Fresno and Bakersfield (Root 1988). Wanders outside usual range (AOU 1983). Rare visitor to Hawaii. | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | HAMMERSON, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Apr 27, 1995 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1993. Thirty-ninth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 110:675-82. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT. Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, and M.C.E. McNall. 1990. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 1. Nonpasserines: Introduction, Loons through Waterfowl. Royal B.C. Mus. in association with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. 514pp. |
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Fraser, D.F., and L.R. Ramsay. 1996. Status of the Green Heron in British Columbia. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. Working rep. WR-78. 28pp. |
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Hilty, S.L. and W. L. Brown. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA. 836 pp. |
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Monroe, B. L., and M. R. Browning. 1992. A reanalysis of BUTORIDES. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 112:81-85. |
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National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. |
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Palmer, R. S. (editor). 1962. Handbook of North American birds. Vol. 1. Loons through flamingos. Yale University Press, New Haven. 567 pp. |
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Payne, R. B. 1974. Species limits and variation of the New World green herons BUTORIDES VIRESCENS and striated herons B. STRIATUS. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 94:81-88. |
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Payne, R. B., and C. J. Risley. 1976. Systematics and evolutionary relationships among the herons (Ardeidae). Univ. Michigan Mus. Zool., Misc. Publ. No. 150. 115 pp. |
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Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 409 pp. + 45 plates. |
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Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp. |
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Root, T. 1988. Atlas of wintering North American birds: An analysis of Christmas Bird Count data. University of Chicago Press. 336 pp. |
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Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Butorides virescens. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).