An extremely rare visitor from North America, the habit of this small, dark, heron of ejecting a stream of white defecation as it flies away, leads to alternative names such as "shite-polk" and "chalk-line".

One of the few tool-using birds, Green Heron commonly drops bait (such as bread crusts, insects, twigs, or feathers) onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted.

With just a handful of records, it perhaps no surprise that a long-staying individual at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall – which stayed from 6 October to 1 December 2010 – attracted crowds of birders.