Other Names.—Fly-up-the-Creek; Shite-poke; Green Bittern.
Description.—Size small; sexes similar. Crown, crest, and line below the eye black, glossed with green; throat whitish, extending down neck as a frontal line which widens at breast; neck reddish brown, glossed with purplish; back with plume-like feathers, blue-green, appearing blue in most lights; wing-coverts glossy green, margined with buffy; tail green; belly gray, some feathers edged with buffy; bill yellowish with dusky tip; feet and eyes bright yellow. Immature: Mottled in appearance, considerably streaked with black on neck and underparts; crest small; no plume-like feathers or blue-gray color on the back. Nestlings are covered with long, irregular down. Length: 17 inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—A common summer resident from April 10 to September 30. It is to be found along all small streams and ponds.
Nest.—Of sticks, placed together as a shallow platform, from 6 to 30 feet from the ground in a bush or tree. Eggs: 3 to 6, pale blue. Green Herons sometimes nest in small colonies, but in Pennsylvania are more frequently found in solitary pairs.
Green Heron
The Green Heron has the interesting habit of twitching its tail nervously when it is excited. These small but adept fishermen are usually frightened from some favorite haunt along a stream. They fly up rapidly, uttering loud, harsh squawks which may be written keeow, or skeeowp. Their yellow feet and blue backs show plainly as the birds fly away. The fact that the Green Heron’s back is so noticeably blue should not lead the bird-student to think he is seeing the Little Blue Heron; a species which is rare in Pennsylvania and which, when it does occur, is usually found in its white plumage.
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
Nycticorax nycticorax nævius (Boddært)
Other Names.—Quawk; Bull Bittern.
Description.—Larger than Crow; bill heavy and blunt for a heron; neck usually drawn in, though it is of considerable length, as in other members of the family; sexes similar. Adults: Forehead, lores, neck, and underparts white, somewhat grayish on neck; crown, upper back, and scapulars black, glossed with green; two or three long white plumes on back of crest; wings, tail, and lower back clear gray; legs and feet yellow; bill dusky with yellowish green base and bare area in front of eyes; eyes red. Immature: Grayish brown above, the feathers streaked or tipped with buffy or whitish; outer webs of primaries rusty; underparts whitish, streaked with dark gray-brown; feet and legs yellow; bill dusky; eyes dark red-brown or red. Length: 2 feet.
Range in Pennsylvania.—A summer resident, locally abundant in eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania, where colonies occur along the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers; in western Pennsylvania the species is rare and irregular; at Erie it has been noted a few times. It arrives at its nesting-grounds in late March or early April and remains until October.
Nest.—A platform of sticks, usually placed high in a tree. Many nests, sometimes hundreds of them, are placed together in a favorite grove which is usually near a lake or on an island in a river. At Harrisburg the Night Herons nest on McCormick’s Island. Eggs: 3 to 6, pale blue.
The loud, barking qua of the Night Heron as it rises from its fishing-ground and flies over after nightfall is a startling sound. The species may be identified easily from this sound alone.
Black-crowned Night Heron