Perched
Viera Wetlands
Green Heron
From 10,000 Birds:
The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a spectacular species familiar to anyone who pays attention to the places where water meets land. There are so many impressive aspects to this handsome heron. One could dwell on how convoluted its family tree is… the Butorides complex, as it’s called, is surprisingly complex. While Butorides spans the globe, it is either recognized as a single species called Green-backed Heron or as three distinct species, the aforementioned New World heron B. virescens along with the Old World Striated Heron (B. striatus) and the slate-gray Lava Heron (B. sundevalli) of the Galapagos. In either case, green herons are silly with subspecies, which may themselves eventually be recognized as full species.