The striated heron (Butorides striata) also known as mangrove heron, little heron or green-backed heron, is a small heron. 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. 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 parasites, neither seems to have been the case in this particular striated heron. 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 predators is not known.[5]

Habitat and Distribution

Striated Herons are mostly non-migratory 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.




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 is 2?5 eggs, which are pale blue and measure around 36 by 28 mm.