Several weeks ago, the Post ran photos of some herons spotted in a tree in Solon Township. We did not specify what type of heron they were. Our resident wildlife and nature biologist Ranger Steve Mueller has informed us that they are green herons.

“I do not know if people were thinking they were young Great Blue Herons but they are not,” he wrote. “Notice the different body silhouette.”

He explained that the green heron feeds and nests along small creeks like Cedar Creek and Little Cedar Creek. “They usually stay hidden in the stream side thickets and feed out of sight under the shrubs in shallow water. They nest individually in the shrub thickets. Great Blue Herons are colonial nesters in taller trees.”

Thanks, Steve, for letting us know!

To learn more about the green heron, and to see other birds it is related to, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology online, or find this story on our website and click on the link http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/browse_tax.aspx?family=10.