Not as tall as their cousins of the great blue variety,
green herons (Butorides virescens)
are still creatures of the water. As I watched this bird, I thought that
rainbow heron might be a better name for it since I saw all sorts of colors-
bright orange legs, bluish wing feathers, and red and purple on its throat and
shoulders. Since their shorter legs don’t allow for easy wading, these birds
often hunt from solid ground, or from a log, in the case of this bird. I
watched this green heron as it hunted in a pond in Edna Taylor Conservation
Park and was fortunate to see it strike quickly and catch a small fish. This
particular heron was doing fine on its own, but other green herons have been
known to use fishing lures while hunting, including earthworms, sticks, and
feathers.
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