[2] The agami heron is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN, due to predictions of future habitat destruction within its range.

[1] The agami heron was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his description on the "Agami heron" from Cayenne that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

[5][6] The agami heron is now the only species placed in the genus Agamia that was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.

Wispy pale blue feathers decorate the crown, sides of the foreneck, and lower back.

The distribution area of the species extends from south-east Mexico through central and Caribbean Central America through the Amazon basin in South America, covering the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

[13] Agami herons stalk their prey (fish, frogs, small reptiles, and snails) in shallow shaded water in forested areas.

At Cocha Cashu, a 1985 study found that 52% of their prey during the late dry season consisted of characids, particularly Triportheus angulatus and Astyanax sp., which are surface-swimming fishes.

[1] Conservation efforts should concentrate on protection of important colony sites, developing a better understanding of the range, habitat needs and biology of the species.