Green-Backed Baby Herons

This small heron is found in ponds and along wooded streams. Its length is 14 inches, its wingspread 25 inches. The bluish-green back and wings give the bird its name; underparts are dark, while the neck and head are reddish-brown and the crown is black. This bird may appear all dark from a distance, especially on a cloudy day. Immatures resemble American bitterns.
A green-backed heron flies with deep wingbeats. Its call is a sharp, descending kew. The green-backed heron feeds on fish, frogs, insects, worms, lizards and salamanders, hunting early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

Green-backed herons usually nest in shrubs or trees overhanging the water, but sometimes in orchards and groves away from any water source. A pair may nest by itself or in a loose colony of other herons (the green is not as gregarious as the great blue). The nest is a platform of twigs and sticks lined with finer material; some nests are so shallow and flimsy that the eggs can be seen through the bottom. The male selects the nesting site and starts building, and the female finishes the task. Outside nest diameter is 10-12 inches. Four to six oval, pale blue or green unmarked eggs are laid, which both sexes incubate for 20 days. Some pairs raise two broods.

In spring, green-backed herons are common April-May migrants. In summer, they are breeding residents (the species breeds throughout the eastern United States, Central America and in Arizona and Texas); in fall, they're common July-September migrants, with stragglers into November. Green-backed herons rarely winter as far north as Pennsylvania.

Today's photo by Paul Wiegman, taken in Hartstown Swamp in Crawford County.

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