Adult: A crow-sized wading bird with grayish-yellow legs, a gray-green back, rich chesnut neck and head and a blackish-green crown with a small crest. White with brown streaks  underneath. The vigilant Green Heron will more than likely spot you before you see it and freeze into immobility on a branch close to the water's surface, hoping you will pass him by unaware. Amusingly, he may give the game away by deciding to fly, which he usually announces to all in a startling burst of raucous sound. 

Breeding Plumage: The breeding male sports a pair of vivid orange legs.

Immature: The immature is browner than adult with heavy streaking on white undersides.

Habitat: Marshes and ponds. Streams, rivers and lake shores.

A Florida resident.

Text by Mary Jean Rogers, West Volusia Audubon.

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