Green-backed Heron (Butorides striata) - BirdLife species factsheet

Green-backed Heron Butorides striata

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Butorides striata (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously split as B. striata and B. virescens following AOU (2003), and before then B. striata was split as B. striatus and B. sundevalli following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993). Gender agreement of B. striata follows David and Gosselin (2002b).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

IUCN Red list criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	Low
Land mass type		Average mass	184 g

Distribution

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	303,000,000	medium
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km2)	286,000,000	medium
Number of locations		-
Severely Fragmented		-

Population and trend

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals				0
Population trend	Decreasing		suspected	-
Decline (3 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (5 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation future)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)		-	-	-
Number of subpopulations		-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation		-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	5.1	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has not been estimated following recent taxonomic changes.

Trend justification: The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations may be stable and others have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Presence	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Angola	N	Extant	Yes
Anguilla (to UK)	N	Extant
Antigua and Barbuda	U	Extant
Argentina	N	Extant
Aruba (to Netherlands)	N	Extant
Australia	N	Extant
Bahamas	N	Extant
Bahrain	V	Extant			Yes
Bangladesh	N	Extant
Barbados	U	Extant
Belize	N	Extant			Yes
Benin	N	Extant
Bermuda (to UK)	N	Extant				Yes
Bhutan	N	Extant
Bolivia	N	Extant
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	N	Extant
Botswana	N	Extant
Brazil	N	Extant
British Indian Ocean Territory	N	Extant		Yes
Brunei	N	Extant
Burkina Faso	N	Extant
Burundi	N	Extant
Cambodia	N	Extant
Cameroon	N	Extant
Canada	N	Extant		Yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	N	Extant
Central African Republic	N	Extant
Chad	N	Extant
Chile	N	Extant
China (mainland)	N	Extant
Christmas Island (to Australia)	V	Extant
Colombia	N	Extant
Comoros	N	Extant
Congo	N	Extant
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	N	Extant
Costa Rica	N	Extant
Côte d'Ivoire	N	Extant
Cuba	N	Extant
Curaçao (to Netherlands)	N	Extant
Djibouti	N	Extant
Dominica	N	Extant
Dominican Republic	N	Extant
Ecuador	N	Extant
Egypt	N	Extant
El Salvador	N	Extant
Equatorial Guinea	N	Extant
Eritrea	N	Extant
Eswatini	N	Extant
Ethiopia	N	Extant
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	V	Extant
Fiji	N	Extant	Yes
French Guiana	N	Extant
French Polynesia	N	Extant
Gabon	N	Extant
Gambia	N	Extant
Ghana	N	Extant
Greenland (to Denmark)	V	Extant
Grenada	N	Extant
Guadeloupe (to France)	N	Extant
Guam (to USA)	N	Extant			Yes
Guatemala	N	Extant
Guinea	N	Extant
Guinea-Bissau	N	Extant
Guyana	N	Extant
Haiti	N	Extant
Honduras	N	Extant
India	N	Extant
Indonesia	N	Extant
Iran, Islamic Republic of	N	Extant	Yes
Israel	N	Extant		Yes
Jamaica	N	Extant		Yes
Japan	N	Extant
Jordan	V	Extant
Kenya	N	Extant
Laos	N	Extant
Liberia	N	Extant
Madagascar	N	Extant
Malawi	N	Extant
Malaysia	N	Extant
Maldives	N	Extant		Yes
Mali	N	Extant
Martinique (to France)	N	Extant
Mauritania	N	Extant
Mauritius	N	Extant
Mayotte (to France)	N	Extant
Mexico	N	Extant
Micronesia, Federated States of	N	Extant			Yes
Montserrat (to UK)	N	Extant
Mozambique	N	Extant
Myanmar	N	Extant
Namibia	N	Extant
Nepal	N	Extant
New Caledonia (to France)	N	Extant
Nicaragua	N	Extant
Niger	N	Extant
Nigeria	N	Extant
North Korea	N	Extant		Yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	N	Extant			Yes
Oman	N	Extant	Yes
Pakistan	N	Extant
Palau	N	Extant			Yes
Panama	N	Extant
Papua New Guinea	N	Extant
Paraguay	N	Extant
Peru	N	Extant
Philippines	N	Extant
Portugal	V	Extant
Puerto Rico (to USA)	N	Extant
Qatar	N	Extant			Yes
Réunion (to France)	N	Extant
Russia	N	Extant
Russia (Asian)	N	Extant
Rwanda	N	Extant
São Tomé e Príncipe	N	Extant
Saudi Arabia	N	Extant	Yes
Senegal	N	Extant
Seychelles	N	Extant
Sierra Leone	N	Extant
Singapore	N	Extant
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands)	N	Extant
Solomon Islands	N	Extant
Somalia	N	Extant
South Africa	N	Extant
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	N	Extant
South Korea	N	Extant
South Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Sri Lanka	N	Extant
St Barthelemy (to France)	N	Extant
St Helena (to UK)	V	Extant
St Kitts and Nevis	N	Extant
St Lucia	N	Extant
St Martin (to France)	N	Extant
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	N	Extant
St Vincent and the Grenadines	N	Extant
Sudan	N	Extant
Suriname	N	Extant
Taiwan, China	N	Extant
Tanzania	N	Extant
Thailand	N	Extant
Timor-Leste	N	Extant	Yes
Togo	N	Extant
Trinidad and Tobago	N	Extant
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	N	Extant
Uganda	N	Extant
United Arab Emirates	N	Extant	Yes
United Kingdom	V	Extant
Uruguay	N	Extant		Yes
USA	N	Extant		Yes
Vanuatu	N	Extant	Yes
Venezuela	N	Extant
Vietnam	N	Extant
Virgin Islands (to UK)	N	Extant	Yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	N	Extant	Yes
Yemen	N	Extant	Yes
Zambia	N	Extant
Zimbabwe	N	Extant

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Sheedvar island
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Khouran Straits
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Khor Jask
Oman	Barr al Hikman
Oman	Duqm
Saudi Arabia	Jiddah south corniche and port
Saudi Arabia	Jizan Bay
Saudi Arabia	Farasan Islands
Yemen	Ta'izz wadis
Philippines	Pagbilao and Tayabas Bay
Mexico	Lagunas Costeras de Guerrero
Mexico	Humedales Costeros del Norte de la Península de Yucatán
Canada	Nottawasaga Island
Colombia	Ciénaga Grande, Isla de Salamanca and Sabana Grande RAMSAR biosphere reserve
Ecuador	Puerto Ayora
Ecuador	Isla Floreana
Ecuador	Champion y Gardner de Floreana
Ecuador	Isla Española
Ecuador	Isla San Cristóbal
Jamaica	Black River Great Morass
Ecuador	Humedales del Sur de Isabela
Ecuador	Áreas costeras de Fernandina y del occidente de Isabela
Puerto Rico (to USA)	El Yunque
Cayman Islands (to UK)	Central Mangrove Wetland
Anguilla (to UK)	Scrub Island
Bahamas	Great Inagua
Bahamas	Harrold and Wilson Ponds National Park
Bahamas	Grog Pond
Bahamas	Lucayan National Park
Bahamas	Long Island and Hog Cay
Bahamas	South Tarpum Bay
Dominican Republic	Jaragua National Park
St Vincent and the Grenadines	Ashton Wetland
St Vincent and the Grenadines	Mustique Island
Antigua and Barbuda	McKinnons Salt Pond
Antigua and Barbuda	Fitches Creek Bay
Antigua and Barbuda	Valley Church Bay
Antigua and Barbuda	Potworks Dam
Antigua and Barbuda	Offshore Islands
Bahamas	Conception Island National Park
Bahamas	North Atlantic Abaco Cays
Paraguay	Río Negro - Pantanal
Costa Rica	Caribbean lowlands and wetlands
Bahamas	San Andros Pond
St Lucia	Castries and Dennery Waterworks Reserve and Marquis
St Lucia	Pitons (Qualibou and Canaries)
Bahamas	Mangrove Cay
Bahamas	Driggs Hill to Mars Bay
Bahamas	Cay Sal
Bahamas	Booby Rocks and Pirates Bay
Bahamas	Southern Great Lake
Bahamas	Low Cay, High Cay and Sandy Hook
Bahamas	South Beach Tidal Flats
Bahamas	Cat Island Wetlands
Bahamas	Salt Cay
Bahamas	Booby Island
St Lucia	Point Sables
St Lucia	Iyanola and Grande Anses, Esperance and Fond D'ors
St Lucia	Mandelé Protected Landscape
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	Klein Bonaire, Bonaire
Aruba (to Netherlands)	Tierra del Sol Salina
Aruba (to Netherlands)	Bubali Wetlands
Antigua and Barbuda	Bethesda Dam
Antigua and Barbuda	Christian Cove
Antigua and Barbuda	Hanson's Bay – Flashes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	John Brewer's Bay
Virgin Islands (to USA)	Southgate and Green Cay
Virgin Islands (to USA)	Great Pond
Anguilla (to UK)	Cove Pond
Guyana	Maparri - Kanuku Mountains
Guyana	North Rupununi - Karanambu Ranch
Guyana	Crane Pond- Rupununi River
French Polynesia	Baie de Port Phaéton et lagune de Mitirapa
Côte d'Ivoire	Monogaga Classified Forest
Jamaica	Font Hill
Colombia	El Encanto de Guanapalo
Colombia	Paramillo Natural National Park
Colombia	Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu
Colombia	Parque Nacional Natural Chiribiquete
Colombia	Bojonawi

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 1900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Food - human	-	-	-		Non-trivial	Recent
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-	-	International	Non-trivial	Recent

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2022) Species factsheet: Butorides striata. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/07/2022. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2022) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/07/2022.