The Tricolored Herons had not started building nests yet but there were a few hanging around the boardwalk area.
You don’t often get to see one from above: I was on the boardwalk and the heron was standing in a shallow pool.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm, St. Augustine, FL
February 25, 2026
Tricolored Herons are often erratic flyers, twisting and turning as the zip around the marsh edges. This one surprised me with a long, smooth flight like he had somewhere else to be.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
December 25, 2025
The tide was in and water in the ponds was high so the wading birds were taking spots in the trees.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
September 5, 2025
A Roseate Spoonbill worked his way along the pond while a Tricolored Heron hardly moved on a lovely day last autumn.
These smaller herons often hang around other wading birds, waiting for prey to be stirred up in the water.
Spoonbills eat very tiny crustaceans and who knows what that their bills sweep by in the water.
Occasionally they catch something that requires more of a toss to swallow it:
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
September 10, 2024
Tricolored Herons were in various stages of nesting around Cypress Wetlands in May.
This adult stood up to tend her eggs and then settled back down.
A few feet away another nest had three chicks, several weeks old I’d guess as they were beyond the “naked” look.
They were doing some grooming, pushing each other around–what else is their to do between feedings?
Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC
May 23, 2025
We spotted two Tricolored Herons along one of the canals at Bear Island WMA last week. They appear to be juveniles, not quite sure of themselves.
The one in the image above and this next one both made movements like they were about to fly, but there they stood.
On our return twenty minutes later one had flown to a water control trunk where he had a good view of the water below.
He had his eye on me as I passed by.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
July 16, 2025
Another image from just after we arrived at Black Point Drive on a weird fog and light morning. This trio, an adult White Ibis, a Tricolored Heron, and a juvenile White Ibis caught the sun’s glow.
Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, Florida
February 10, 2025
Tricolored Herons were sprinkled all along the wildlife drive, including this one feeding in a shallow pool. They tend to be solitary feeders, getting into feisty squabbles if another one gets too close.
The water levels within Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge are different every time I have been there. This visit there were many dry areas that previously I have seen water.
Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island, FL
February 9, 2025
A single Tricolored Heron was hanging around one of the marsh inlets as the tide was receding. He alternated between perching on some old posts and standing in the water. He did some hunting up closer to the bank where I couldn’t get a view.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
November 10, 2024
I had startled the Green Heron out of the pond side undergrowth as I passed by.
Then he stood almost like a statue as a Tricolored Heron sauntered by in the water looking for a meal.
I didn’t see him catch anything despite his maneuver of looking through a tuft of fronds.
Undaunted, the Tricolored Heron kept on walking. Look through the greenery above his head and you’ll see an Alligator lounging on a ramp.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
August 21, 2024
