[3] The name Butorides derives from Middle English Butor ("bittern") and the Ancient Greek suffix -oides, "resembling".

[4] Adults of the extant species are among the smallest herons, ranging in length from 35–48 centimetres (14–19 inches), and have a dark grey to blackish back and wings (sometimes with greenish or bluish iridescence), a black cap, and short legs; the legs are yellow most of the year, but flush bright orange-red during pre-breeding courtship.

Butorides herons breed in small wetlands, building a nest from platform of sticks, often in shrubs or trees, sometimes on the ground.

Both parents incubate for about 20 days until hatching, and feed the young birds, which take a further three weeks to fledge.

[5] A fossil species, Butorides validipes, is known from the Early Pleistocene of Florida in the United States.