Green Herons are short and stocky (for a heron) with a thick neck that is often drawn down into the body. It’s only when they strike at food that you can see the length of the neck.

Although Green Herons are fairly common across the U.S., their population has suffered a decline of approximately 1.3% per year between 1966 to 2019, resulting in a cumulative decline of about 51%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. In the past, people hunted Green Herons for food and controlled their numbers near fish hatcheries. Today they, like so many creatures, are negatively impacted by habitat loss from the destruction of wetlands.