Tricolored Heron

The Tricolored Heron is built for marsh life: long legs enable it to wade and see down through the water; long toes churn up food and distribute weight over soft mud; a long neck and bill help reach prey; and broad wings can lift the heavy body vertically out of a brushy wetland. Once called the "Louisiana Heron," this colonial nester is a close relative of bitterns and one of only four North American egret species. The Tricolored Heron measures about 26 inches long and weighs 13 ounces, with a 36-inch wingspan. Long, slim, and ornately colored, this fancy egret has notably long legs, neck, and bill. Contrasting with straw colored back plumes, the upper parts, including the head and neck, are slate blue. Below the base of the neck, the under-parts are white. During breeding season, the Tricolored Heron sports a short white head plume, a buffy throat and fore-neck, a blue face, and a blue bill, tipped with black. The eyes are reddish, and the legs pinkish. Nonbreeding adults have a yellow face, bill, and legs; the throat and fore-neck are white. On juvenile Tricolored Herons, rusty red adorns the head, neck, upper back, and the front parts of the wings. http://birds.audubon.org/species/triher

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