Winning entry to our 3rd Bird Photo of the Year Competition: “Cuiden mi casa: manglares de Juan Díaz”, by Itzel Fong Gadea.

The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a small heron that is very common in ponds, marshes and mangroves in all of Panama. Although we have a breeding population, during the boreal winter we receive migratory races that breed further North.

It is usually solitary, and captures its prey (usually fish and amphibians) by standing on a perch just out of the water.