TRICOLORED HERON: AN ELEGANT & PATIENT FISHER

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tricolored-heron-phil-lanoue-3

TRICOLORED HERON: AN ELEGANT & PATIENT FISHER

The Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor is one of 6 heron species found on Abaco, and is a permanent breeding resident. To which can be added 4 sorts of egret to complete a line up of expert fishers, all equally at home hunting in the water or from the shore, or surveying the scene from nearby vantage points like bushes and trees.

tricolored_heron2_by_dan_pancamo (Wiki)

A distance shot… and it was 20′ up, above the pondtricolored-heron-gilpin-point-abaco-keith-salvesen

The heron and egret species of Abacoherons-egrets-abaco

A long neck, a long bill and long legs make this heron species ideally adapted for wading. Like other herons and egrets, it will stand stock-still waiting for the perfect fish to swim into range. However they are also active hunters, and will stalk prey or chase it by striding quickly through the water in pursuit. They eat fish, crustaceans, reptiles, and insects.

tricolored-heron-abaco-woody-braceytricolored-heron-abaco-bruce-hallet

On a mission…tricolored-heron-phil-lanoue-7

The tricolor has a wide resident breeding range, shown in green on the mapegretta_tricolor_map-svg

Tricolored Heron

Coming in to land…tricolored-heron-phil-lanoue-1

Breeding plumage: smart blue bill and a fish to put in itTri-colored Heron with fish (Phil Lanoue)

A silver prize…tricolored-heron-phil-lanoue-5

RELATED POSTS

GREEN HERON

YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON

SNOWY EGRET

Credits: Phil Lanoue (1, 6, 8, 9, 10); Dan Pancamo (2, 7); Keith Salvesen (3); Woody Bracey (4); Bruce Hallett (5)

10 thoughts on “TRICOLORED HERON: AN ELEGANT & PATIENT FISHER”

  5. I always enjoy watching a tricolored heron, not a bird we see in northern California. Amazing photos here, RH. I can only imagine how long it took for PL to capture the mid-air fish in mouth of the breeding tricolor — whew! Gorgeous post.

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