# Butorides

Butorides is a genus of small herons. It contains three similar species, the striated heron Butorides striatus, the lava heron Butorides sundevalli, and the green heron Butorides virescens. They are closely related, and some authorities have considered them all to be subspecies of just one species; when treated so, the merged species is called green-backed heron. The name Butorides derives from Middle English Butor ("bittern") and the Ancient Greek suffix -oides, "resembling".
Adults of the extant species are among the smallest herons, ranging in length from 35–48 centimetres (14–19 inches), and have a dark grey to blackish back and wings (sometimes with greenish or bluish iridescence), a black cap, and short legs; the legs are yellow most of the year, but flush bright orange-red during pre-breeding courtship. The species have different underpart colours; white to grey or orange-buff in striated heron, and very dark grey in lava heron, and red-brown in green heron; in all, there is a line of white streaks running down the front of the throat and breast. The juveniles are browner above and extensively streaked below, and have greenish-yellow legs.
Butorides herons breed in small wetlands, building a nest from platform of sticks, often in shrubs or trees, sometimes on the ground. The female lays three to five eggs. Both parents incubate for about 20 days until hatching, and feed the young birds, which take a further three weeks to fledge. They stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey. They mainly eat small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. They are known to drop lures on the water surface to attract fish.
A fossil species, Butorides validipes, is known from the Early Pleistocene of Florida in the United States.

## Taxonomy and range

The Butorides herons were formerly considered one species, but are now normally split as above, with the green heron breeding in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies and the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States, and the striated heron in South America, and the Old World tropics and warm temperate regions from west Africa to Japan.
Birds in central Panama with buff necks have been considered to be hybrids between the two species, but the occurrence of similar birds beyond the range of migratory green herons means that there is still doubt about the species limits within the genus.
Within the heron family Ardeidae, Butorides is most closely related the genus Ardeola (pond herons).
Genus Butorides – Blyth, 1852 – three species :
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
| Striated heron Butorides striata striata, São Paulo, Brazil Butorides striata stagnatilis, Northern Territory, Australia | Butorides striata (Linnaeus, 1758) Twenty one subspecies B. s. striata (Linnaeus, 1758) B. s. atricapilla (Afzelius, 1804) B. s. brevipes (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) B. s. rutenbergi (Hartlaub, 1880) B. s. rhizophorae Salomonsen, 1934 B. s. crawfordi Nicoll, 1906 B. s. degens Hartert, EJO, 1920 B. s. albolimbata Reichenow, 1900 B. s. spodiogaster Sharpe, 1894 B. s. amurensis (Schrenck, 1860) B. s. actophila Oberholser, 1912 B. s. javanica (Horsfield, 1821) B. s. steini Mayr, 1943 B. s. moluccarum Hartert, EJO, 1920 B. s. papuensis Mayr, 1940 B. s. idenburgi Rand, 1941 B. s. flyensis Salomonsen, 1966 B. s. macrorhyncha (Gould, 1848) B. s. stagnatilis (Gould, 1848) B. s. patruelis (Peale, 1849) B. s. solomonensis Mayr, 1940 | Most of South America, Subsaharan Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, south and east Asia (north to eastern Siberia during the breeding season), and northern & eastern Australia. | Size: 35–48 cm Habitat: wetlands, also coastal rocks and mangroves in some areas Diet: fish, amphibians, crustaceans | LC |
| Lava heron Butorides sundevalli, Galápagos | Butorides sundevalli (Reichenow, 1877) | Galápagos Islands off Ecuador. | Size: 41 cm Habitat: coastal rocks and rock pools Diet: fish, crustaceans | LC |
| Green heron Butorides virescens virescens, New York | Butorides virescens (Linnaeus, 1758) Four subspecies B. v. virescens (Linnaeus, 1758) B. v. bahamensis (Brewster, 1888) B. v. anthonyi (Mearns, 1895) B. v. frazari (Brewster, 1888) | North America, in southernmost Canada, western and eastern United States, Mexico, Central America to central Panama, Caribbean. | Size: 41–46 cm Habitat: wetlands Diet: fish, amphibians, crustaceans | LC |