Green Heron

Butorides striatus

RANGE British Columbia, Minnesota, and New Brunswick, south to southern South America; winters from South Carolina to Gulf Coast and California; also tropical portions of Africa and southeast Asia

HABITAT Lake margins, streams, ponds, and marshes

DIET Mainly fish

The green heron is one of the world's few bird species that uses tools. It creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, earthworms, twigs, feathers, and other objects, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish. They usually hunt by wading in shallow water, but occasionally they dive for deep-water prey.

The species is threatened by human disturbance, pesticides and habitat destruction.