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Where to see

Where to see the Green-backed Heron in South Africa

Hosts have recorded the Green-backed Heron at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand Game Reserve and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

Butorides striata

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Green-backed Heron
Photo: (c) Tom Kennedy, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Tom Kennedy

Planning a trip

When and where to find the Green-backed Heron

Hosts have recorded the Green-backed Heron at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand Game Reserve and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

Best hours of the day

  • The first hours after sunrise, and late afternoon. Birds call and feed most in the cool.
  • Midday. Quieter, especially in summer heat.

Where to base yourself

  • Limpopo

    Limpopo

    Kruger

    Self-drive
    Stays in Limpopo
    Limpopo
  • Mpumalanga

    Mpumalanga

    Sabi Sand

    Guided drives
    Stays in Mpumalanga
    Mpumalanga
  • KwaZulu-Natal

    KwaZulu-Natal

    Hluhluwe-Imfolozi · iSimangaliso Wetland

    Stays in KwaZulu-Natal
    KwaZulu-Natal

Ways to look

Drive yourself

Your own vehicle and pace, on the park's roads.

Where hosts record it

Kruger

Guided drives from a lodge

A guide who knows where to look, with off-road and night drives in the private reserves.

Where hosts record it

Sabi Sand

Species

Butorides striata

Every booking on Spekboom supports conservation.

Questions travellers ask

A record means a host has seen the Green-backed Heron on the property or nearby. It is never a guarantee of a sighting.

Which parks and reserves are best for the Green-backed Heron in South Africa?

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Green-backed Heron at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

What is the Green-backed Heron?

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. Their breeding habitat is small wetlands in the Old World tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia, and in South America.

Stays that give back

Where to stay for a chance to see the Green-backed Heron

Every stay on the Green-backed Heron page lists the species its host has recorded on or near the property. A record is a sighting, never a promise.

See where to stay