Juvenile Green Heron

Description:

The green heron is relatively small; adult body length is about 44 cm. The neck is often pulled in tight against the body. Adults have a glossy, greenish-black cap, a greenish back and wings that are grey-black grading into green or blue, a chestnut neck with a white line down the front, grey underparts and short yellow legs. The bill is dark with a long, sharp point. Female adults tend to be smaller than males, and have duller and lighter plumage, particularly in the breeding season. Juveniles are duller, with the head sides, neck and underparts streaked brown and white, tan-splotched back and wing coverts, and greenish-yellow legs and bill.

Habitat:

In our garden in Windwardside, at the foot of the Volcano, Mount Scenery, on Saba in the Caribbean Sea.

Notes:

He/She was walking away redhanded from my Lotus (and the fish in the pond) :-) When walking away I noticed a constant (guilty) up and down twitching of the tail. :-) Green herons are one of the few species of bird known to use tools. In particular, they commonly use bread crusts, insects, or other items as bait. The bait is dropped onto the surface of a body of water in order to lure fish. When a fish takes the bait, the green heron will then grab and eat the fish.[5] When green herons catch large frogs, they will drown them before swallowing them whole.