Tricolored Herons

Egretta tricolor

Tricolored Herons are medium-sized herons with blue-gray heads, necks, wings and upperparts, white to cream colored bellies and a whitish stripe on the front of their necks.

World Wetlands Day 2021

By |2024-03-13T04:38:39-06:00February 2nd, 2021|Categories: American Bitterns, American Coots, Bald Eagles, Barn Owls, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Black-crowned Night Herons, Blue-winged Teals, Brewer's Blackbirds, Centennial Valley, Cinnamon Teals, Common Checkered-Skippers, Common Mergansers, Conservation, Eight-spotted Skimmers, Environment, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Greater Scaups, Green-winged Teals, Halloween Pennants, Hooded Mergansers, Least Sandpipers, Lesser Scaups, Long-tailed Weasels, Marsh Wrens, Montana, Moose, Muskrats, Northern Harriers, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Red-breasted Mergansers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Reddish Egrets, Redheads, Ruddy Ducks, Rusty Blackbirds, Sandhill Cranes, Scarlet Skimmers, Snowy Egrets, Spotted Sandpipers, Tricolored Herons, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Utah, Variegated Meadowhawk, White-faced Ibises, Wildflowers, Wilson's Phalaropes, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Yellow-headed Blackbirds|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

February 2nd is World Wetlands Day to raise global awareness about the critical role of wetlands for people, wildlife and our planet.

Tricolored Herons In Florida Habitats

By |2023-10-06T13:12:32-06:00January 19th, 2020|Categories: Birds, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Roosevelt Wetlands, Tricolored Herons, Weedon Island Preserve|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I lived in Florida Tricolored Herons were among my favorite wading birds to photograph and I found them in many different types of habitats.

It is Tricolored Heron Not Tri-colored Heron

By |2020-01-19T04:22:27-07:00November 27th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

I must admit I get a little bonkers though when I see images of birds where the name posted for the species in the photo is incorrect, for instance, it is Tricolored Heron not Tri-colored Heron.

Tricolored Heron hunting the Gulf of Mexico’s shoreline

By |2023-10-06T13:15:57-06:00October 2nd, 2014|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons and larger than Snowy Egrets and all three of these wading birds hunt in many of the same locations along the Gulf Coast.

Morning treasures from six years ago today – Birds on the beach

By |2021-05-17T15:07:12-06:00September 25th, 2014|Categories: Birds, Pinellas County, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plovers, Snowy Egrets, Snowy Plovers, Tricolored Herons, Wilson's Plovers|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

These images of birds on the beach were taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach six years ago today on a beautiful morning.

Head angles – Less than perfect head angles can be compelling

By |2020-04-18T04:36:34-06:00June 22nd, 2014|Categories: American Coots, Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Salt Lake County, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I believe that even without what some may consider "the perfect head angle" that we can create interesting and compelling avian images.

Tranquil Tricolored Heron

By |2016-12-07T12:10:01-07:00March 20th, 2014|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

There is a quality that feels very tranquil about this Tricolored Heron image for me. It may be the still, silky texture of the water or the soft pastel color of the water created by the early morning light.

Tricolored Heron perched in White Mangroves

By |2023-10-06T13:13:22-06:00September 11th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Tricolored Herons, Weedon Island Preserve|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

This image of a Tricolored Heron perched in White Mangroves happens to be the first photo that I had taken of a this species that I was very happy with.

Tricolored Heron in Breeding Plumage

By |2021-03-10T08:02:51-07:00June 23rd, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I was digging through my image files yesterday and came across a series of Tricolored Heron images that I had never edited from a May morning in 2009 when I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto's north beach.

Tricolored Herons Times Three

By |2022-12-14T11:40:38-07:00May 26th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I actually like the backgrounds in each of these images, all of them show the habitat that Tricolored Herons might be found in and highlight the birds too.

Breeding plumage Tricolored Heron in flight

By |2023-10-06T13:03:45-06:00February 5th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I've always liked this image of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage that flew past me while I sat in the water of a tidal lagoon near a Spartina marsh in Florida. Warm water, a sea breeze, birds, nature and photography.

Tricolored Heron striking at prey

By |2016-12-07T12:12:23-07:00January 3rd, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I am intrigued by how these herons evolved to have long necks that give them the ability to make lightning fast strikes at their prey some distance from their bodies.

Tricolored Heron shaking it up on tip toes

By |2016-12-07T12:12:28-07:00December 28th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The Great Blue Heron I photographed on Christmas Day seems to have focused my attention on wading birds, yesterday it was Reddish Egrets and this morning I present a Tricolored Heron shaking its feather while on tip toes

Tricolored Heron – Up close

By |2023-10-06T13:05:05-06:00November 26th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I photographed this hunting Tricolored Heron I was laying flat on my belly in the shallows where the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico gently lapped the shore.

Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey

By |2023-10-06T13:01:16-06:00November 10th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.

Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in Breeding Plumage

By |2023-10-06T13:16:28-06:00May 14th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.

Hidden Treasures

By |2017-10-11T06:07:58-06:00December 24th, 2010|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Burrowing Owls, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Glacier County, Gray Partridges, Least Bitterns, Montana, Roosevelt Wetlands, Tricolored Herons, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

As a bird photographer I often strive for images where the subjects are out in the open, without distractions in the fore or background, but as with any photographic "rule", they are made to be broken.

Tricolored Herons

By |2016-12-07T12:15:18-07:00October 14th, 2010|Categories: Birds, Florida, Tricolored Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Another one of my favorite wading birds is the Tricolored Heron, a bird that used to be called the Louisiana Heron. It can be found in estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, in inland freshwater marshes in Florida.

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