Green Heron Butorides virescens
Overview
Description
The green heron (Butorides virescens) is a small heron of North and Central America. Butorides is from Middle English butor "bittern" and Ancient Greek -oides, "resembling", and virescens is Latin for "greenish". It was long considered conspecific with its sister species the striated heron (Butorides striata), and together they were called "green-backed heron". Birds of the nominate subspecies (no matter which taxonomic arrangement is preferred) are extremely rare vagrants to western Europe—for example, a sighting in Pembrokeshire in 2018 was only the second recorded sighting in Wales; individuals from the Pacific coast of North America may similarly stray as far as Hawaii.1
Taxonomy
Pelecaniformes > Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) > Herons, Ibis, and Allies
Sightings
Relevant Sightings
- 09-23-2023 - California, United States (First Sighting)
- 01-18-2025 - California, United States (First/Best Photo)
- 03-16-2025 - California, United States (Last Sighting)
Places Seen
- California, United States
- Ciudad de México, Mexico
Media
Photographs
Audio Recordings
No audio recordings available.