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Waiting for Lunch
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a small wading bird 41-46 cm (16-18 in) with a 64-68 cm (25-27 in) wingspan. It is common in wet spots across much of North America. It can be difficult to see as it stands motionless waiting for small fish to approach within striking range, but it frequently announces its presence by its loud squawking.
Although a wader, it seems to prefer not getting its feet wet, and will often hunt from a perch on a branch or rock. The Green Heron is one of the few tool-using birds. It commonly drops bait onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted. It uses a variety of baits and lures, including crusts of bread, insects, earthworms, twigs, or feathers.
There is some confusion over the name. It is part of a complex of small herons that sometimes are considered one species. When lumped, they are called Green-backed Heron (Butorides striatus). There are also some references to Little Green Heron.
When hunting from a perch, they can lean so far out over the water that they seem to defy the law of gravity. Shortly after I shot this. He leaned a little too far and actually fell in. I would love to have captured it, but unfortunately, I was set at 1/125 sec. And got nothing but a blur |
nirmalroberts, cecilia has marked this note useful
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- dejo
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 355 W: 51 N: 476]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(2056) - [2007-10-14 17:41]
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Nice shot Joel, fine capture of eye and pose
Regards, Dejan
Hi Joel,
A very representative picture of Green Heron. Nice note.
TFS.
- Nirmal
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- EOSF1
(21378)
- [2007-10-18 21:41]
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Hello Joel ! Well done with this Green Heron, it's very hard to get good shots of that bird because they're really shy. That's a very good shot, thanks !
Mario
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 43 W: 10 N: 39]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-s-s.gif){kind=small}