Look for contrasting dark cap, distinct pale edges on wing feathers, and white and rufous stripes on front of neck. Juvenile streakier below than adult. However, Clements, 2007, includes the Lava Heron with the Striated Heron, a polytypic species with populations ranging from South America through the Pacific and Indian Oceans to Madagascar and southeast Asia. Sibley and Monroe (1990) and Dickenson (2003) list three species in the genus Butorides - the Striated, Lava or Galapagos, and Green Herons. Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over &1 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information for 12,000 regions, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. Seen up close, it is a striking bird with a velvet-green back, rich chestnut body, and a dark cap often raised into a short crest. From a distance, the Green Heron is a dark, stocky bird hunched on slender yellow legs at the water’s edge, often hidden behind a tangle of leaves. Striated Heron often is encountered foraging alone in the dense vegetation along bodies of water. These small herons crouch patiently to surprise fish with a snatch of their daggerlike bill. Small size and overall gray color separates from most other herons and bitterns. Their breeding habitat is small wetlands in the Old World tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia, and in South America. The Striated Heron (Butorides striata) also known as the Green-Backed Heron, is a small hunched wetlands bird from the tropical regions of the world, mainly in the southern hemisphere, including west Africa, Japan, Australia, and South America.The Striated Heron is greenish grey, with a white underbelly, a black cap, and short yellow legs. Its neck is short which makes it looked hunched over. B. s. striata (Linnaeus, 1758) – Striated Heron – E Panama and all S America S to N Chile and N Argentina. The striated heron (Butorides striata) also known as mangrove heron, little heron or green-backed heron, is a small heron, about 44 cm tall.Striated herons are mostly non-migratory and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. Similar to Green Heron but note mostly gray neck with restricted rufous. B. s. atricapilla (Afzelius, 1804) – Africa S of Sahara (S to Namibia and C & E South Africa) and islands in Gulf of Guinea. This small heron has a black forehead and crown, greenish-black back, gray underparts with a centrally placed large white stripe, and bright yellow-orange legs. A very widespread small heron, common across much of the globe.