August 22, 2019 – What are those little dark colored squawking herons seen perched in the dead trees in and around our wetlands, ponds, and creeks? These wary birds are often seen stalking, with only the slightest of movement, as they inch across the branches of a partially submerged fallen snag in the duckweed covered still backwaters of our river. It is now August and soon the little Green herons will be heading south for the winter. The sightings have most definitely increased recently as the new generation of young Green herons, those feathery squawkers that are the results of a successful nesting season, are fledged and hunting on their own. The crow sized herons are dark colored and appear as silhouettes in the dim lit habitat of a slough, but when they are illuminated by the sunlight the beauty of Green heron is revealed. Their feathers are a rich color of chestnut, dark green, and blue-gray and they have yellow eyes and a dagger like bill that shoots out in the blink of an eye as they extend with great speed their long neck to grab an unsuspecting fish, frog or insect. According to Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Green herons begin arriving in Illinois in April and nesting occurs from May through early July and the fall migration starts in August.
There have been observations and even videos of this remarkable hunter that have verified that some of these birds have learned to use lures to get small fish to come in close. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology stated, “The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. 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.” As we are now seeing other species of herons and egrets staging and working their way south as autumn draws near, these little night fliers, those squawking Green herons, will soon disappear from our sloughs and wetlands until next April. The Green heron is considered a medium-distance migrant here in northeastern Illinois and winters along the southern coastal areas of North America, and south into Mexico, and Central America.