From Opus

Alternative name: Louisiana Heron

Photo by mw_aurora
Sanibel Island, Florida

Egretta tricolor

[edit] Identification

56 cm.

• Blue-grey head, neck, back and upperwings
• White line along the neck
• White belly
• Long pointed yellowish or greyish bill with a black tip
• Legs and feet are dark
  

Breeding

• Long blue filamentous plumes on the head and neck, and buff ones on the back.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds on the east coast of North America from New Jersey to Florida and the Gulf Coast, and on both coasts of Mexico south to Panama. In South America breeds coastally south to northern Peru on the Pacific coast and the Amazon on the Atlantic coast. Also breeds on the Greater Antilles.

Northern birds are migratory and becomes more widespread on the Gulf Coast and throughout the West Indies. Post-breeding dispersal has taken birds north to New Brunswick and Ontario and a rare but regular visitor to southern California.

Photo by onlybill
Surfside, Texas, September 2008

[edit] Taxonomy

• E. t. ruficollis (occidentalis):

• Tropical southern US to Colombia, north-western Venezuela and West Indies

• E. t. tricolor: smaller; has a chestnut rather than white foreneck stripe

• North-eastern Venezuela and the Guianas to southern Peru and north-eastern Brazil; winters in Trinidad

[edit] Habitat

Mainly coastal, found in shallow lagoons and on tidal mudflats and estuaries, mangroves and commonly in freshwater swamps in Florida.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Movement

Often runs when hunting prey in water

[edit] Diet

The diet includes fish, crustaceans, reptiles and insects.

[edit] Breeding

Colonial nester, often with other heron species. Platform nests are built of sticks in trees or shrubs around swamps. Normal clutch size is 3-7 eggs.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links