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{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Striated heron
| image = Striated_Heron_-_Ermington.jpg
| image_caption = Adult in Sydney, Australia
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2022 |title=''Butorides striata'' |page=e.T22728182A163804848 |access-date=28 July 2023}}</ref>
| genus = Butorides
| species = striata
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = *''Ardea striata'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}}
*''Butorides striatus'' <small>(''[[lapsus]]'')</small>
*''Butorides spodiogaster'' {{small|Sharpe, 1894}}
* ''Ardea chloriceps'' {{small|Bonaparte, 1857}}<ref>{{cite journal|url = https://wwwops.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_028_07_0288_0288_0.pdf |title=A note on the correct zoological name of the Indian little green heron (Aves, Ardeidae)|author=Biswas, Biswamoy| year=1959| journal=Current Science| volume=28| issue=7|page=288}}</ref>
| range_map = Butorides striata map.svg
}}

The '''striated heron''' ('''''Butorides striata''''') also known as '''mangrove heron''', '''little green heron''' or '''[[green-backed heron]]''', is a small [[heron]], about 44 cm tall. Striated herons are mostly [[bird migration|sedentary]] and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. Their breeding habitat is small wetlands in the [[Old World]] tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia, and in South America and the [[Caribbean]]. Vagrants have been recorded on Oceanic islands, such as [[Chuuk State|Chuuk]] and [[Yap]] in the Federated States of Micronesia, the [[Marianas]] and Palau; the bird recorded on Yap on February 25, 1991, was from a continental Asian rather than from a [[Melanesia]]n population, while the origin of the bird seen on Palau on May 3, 2005 was not clear.<ref>Wiles ''et al.'' (2000), VanderWerf ''et al.'' (2006)</ref>

This bird was long considered to be [[conspecific]] with the closely related North American species, the [[green heron]], which is now usually separated as ''B. virescens'', as well as the [[lava heron]] of the [[Galápagos Islands]] (now ''B. sundevalli'', but often included in ''B. striata'', e.g. by [[BirdLife International]]<ref name = bli2008>BLI (2008)</ref>); collectively they were called "[[green-backed heron]]s".

==Description and ecology==
[[File:Butorides striata Orto botanico di Pamplemousses Mauritius 0069.jpg|thumb|left]]
Adults have a blue-grey back and wings, white underparts, a black cap, a dark line extends from the bill to under the eye and short yellow legs. Juveniles are browner above and streaked below.

These birds stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey, but are easier to see than many small heron species. They mainly eat small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. They sometimes use bait, dropping a feather or leaf carefully on the water surface and picking fish that come to investigate.<ref>Norris (1975), Boswall (1983), Walsh ''et al.'' (1985), Robinson (1994)</ref>

They nest in a platform of sticks measuring between 20–40 cm long and 0.5–5 mm thick. The entire nest measures some 40–50 cm wide and 8–10 cm high outside, with an inner depression 20 cm wide and 4–5 cm deep. It is usually built in not too high off the ground in shrubs or trees but sometimes in sheltered locations on the ground, and often near water. The [[clutch (eggs)|clutch]] is 2–5 [[Egg (biology)|egg]]s, which are pale blue and measure around 36 by 28 mm.<ref name=greeneyetal2006>Greeney & Merino M. (2006)</ref>

An adult bird was once observed in a peculiar and mysterious behavior: while on the nest, it would grab a stick in its bill and make a rapid back-and-forth motion with the head, like a sewing machine's needle. The significance of this behavior is completely unknown: While such movements occur in many other nesting birds where they seem to compact the nest, move the eggs, or dislodge [[parasite]]s, neither seems to have been the case in this particular striated heron.<ref name=greeneyetal2006 />

Young birds will give a display when they feel threatened, by stretching out their necks and pointing the bill skywards. How far this would deter [[predator]]s is not known.<ref name=greeneyetal2006 />

Widespread and generally common, the striated heron is classified as a species of [[least concern]] by the [[IUCN]]; this holds true whether the [[lava heron]] is included in ''B. striata'' or not.<ref name = bli2008 />

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="130px">
Butorides striatus - Daintree River.jpg|On the [[Daintree River]], [[North Queensland]]
Green-backed heron (Butorides striata atricapilla) juvenile.jpg|juvenile ''B. s. atricapilla'', Ghana
Striated heron (Butorides striata chloriceps).jpg|''B. s. chloriceps'', India
File:Lava Heron on Santiago Island Galapagos.jpg|On [[Santiago Island (Galápagos)|Santiago Island]], [[Galapagos]]
Butorides striata javanica @ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1).jpg|''B. s. javanica'', Malaysia
ButoridesSpodiogasterKeulemans.jpg|''B. s. spodiogaster'', illustration by [[John Gerrard Keulemans|Keulemans]], 1898
Héron à dos vert MHNT.jpg|
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* Boswall, J. (1983): Tool-using and related behavior in birds: more notes. ''Avicultural Magazine'' '''89''': 94–108.
* Greeney, Harold F. & Merino M., Paúl A. (2006): Notes on breeding birds from the Cuyabeno Faunistic Reserve in northeastern Ecuador. ''Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología'' '''16'''(2): 46–57. [http://www.sao.org.co/publicaciones/boletinsao/07-Greeney&Merino.BreedingCuyabenoBirds.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Norris, D. (1975): Green Heron (''Butorides virescens'') uses feather lure for fishing. ''American Birds'' '''29''': 652–654.
* Robinson, S.K. (1994): Use of bait and lures by Green-backed Herons in Amazonian Peru. ''[[Wilson Bulletin]]'' '''106'''(3): 569–571
* Walsh, J.F.; Grunewald, J. & Grunewald, B. (1985): Green-backed Herons (''Butorides striatus'') possibly using a lure and using apparent bait. ''[[Journal of Ornithology|J. Ornithol.]]'' '''126''': 439–442.
* Wiles, Gary J.; Worthington, David J.; Beck, Robert E. Jr.; Pratt, H. Douglas; Aguon, Celestino F. & Pyle, Robert L. (2000): Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, with a Summary of Raptor Sightings in the Mariana Islands, 1988–1999. ''Micronesica'' '''32'''(2): 257–284. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130423041229/http://www.uog.edu/up/micronesica/dynamicdata/assetmanager/images/vol32/wiles_etal.pdf PDF fulltext]
* VanderWerf, Eric A.; Wiles, Gary J.; Marshall, Ann P. & Knecht, Melia (2006): Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April–May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard's Pipit. ''Micronesica'' '''39'''(1): 11–29. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110615004924/http://www.uog.edu/up/micronesica/dynamicdata/assetmanager/images/pdf/vanderwerf-palau.pdf PDF fulltext]

==External links==

* (Striated heron = ) Greenbacked heron ''Butorides striata'' – [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/074.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]
* [http://www.sustainablebolivia.org/birds-aquicuana-reserve.html Birds of the Aquicuana Reserve] from Sustainable Bolivia
* [https://ebird.org/species/strher Striated Heron, eBird]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q270722}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Butorides|striated heron]]
[[Category:Herons|striated heron]]
[[Category:Birds of Africa]]
[[Category:Birds of the Americas]]
[[Category:Birds of Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of Oceania]]
[[Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic]]
[[Category:Birds of the Gulf of Guinea]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|striated heron]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|striated heron]]
[[Category:Birds of Nepal]]

Striated heron - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article