"Backyard Heron"

A relatively small, dark, compact, crested wading bird, the Green Heron is a common species of wetland thickets throughout much of North America. Although shy and retiring, it is a familiar sight to those spending time out of doors. Careful observers can see it stalking slowly through the water, perched quietly atop a branch, or as a dark form flying with slow wingbeats through the gathering dusk. Its flight call, an assertive skeow, is a sound typifying temperate and tropical wetlands of the Americas. Some of this bird's behaviors are especially well appreciated; flying away from human disturbance, for example, it often produces a scolding squawk and a stream of white defecation, giving it such vernacular monikers as "fly-up-the-creek," "shite-polk," and "chalk-line."

 

 

Green herons are one of the few birds that have been recorded using bait to lure fish to sites. They have been seen placing bread crusts, insects or feathers on the water surface and waiting quietly nearby for prey to approach the bait.

 

I found this one in my backyard on my dock!

Lake Wales, Polk County, Florida.

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