Tricolor Beauty

by Dawn Currie

Title

Tricolor Beauty

Artist

Dawn Currie

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

Photographic artwork by Dawn Currie. Tricolored Heron looking for a mate in a rookery in central Florida.

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A Beautiful Tricolored Heron whose breeding plumage is highlighted by the early morning sun. This wild bird was joining many others in the safety of the rookery above the gator swamps at Gatorland in Orlando Florida.

Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor): A medium-sized, slender heron of the southeastern United States, the Tricolored Heron was formerly known as the Louisiana Heron. I love photographing these birds throughout the wetlands of central and south Florida, including Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville Florida, the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands and Click Ponds near Viera Florida, Gleason Park in Indian Harbour Beach Florida, the Orlando Wetlands near Christmas Florida, Gatorland in Orlando Florida, and Wakodahatchee Nature Center in Boyton Beach Florida.

The Tricolored Heron is a resident of coastal wetlands. It is most common in estuaries, bay margins, brackish marshes, and tidal pools. This medium-sized heron (22-30 in) is often seen in belly-deep water catching killifishes and other small prey such as frogs, crustaceans and insects. The plumage is mostly blue-gray above and white on the belly. The front of the neck is white; the sides of the neck may be gray or purple. Breeding birds have fine buffy plumes on the back and neck, and elongated crown plumes, as do many other egrets. The bill is slender and noticeably long; during the nesting season it is tinted blue at the base. Tricolored Herons build stick nests in mixed colonies of large waders. They'll nest in a variety of trees and close to or on the ground or vegetation at the water's surface. A typical clutch is 3-4 eggs and is incubated by both parents.

Uploaded

June 9th, 2014

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