Hanging on tight!
Treetop Tricolored Herons
Tag Archives: Tricolored Heron
Bird Line Up On The Dike
Being watched from the water…
Middleton Place, Charleston, SC
September 2, 2021
Tricolored Heron Soaking
Prehistoric Looking Chick
A Tricolored Heron chick was peaking out from behind a parent, looking a bit like a dinosaur.
Will It Fit?
A Tricolored Heron had selected a stick for the nest he was building but wasn’t quite sure about flying it home. Multiple side branches often end up being more trouble than they are worth.
Trio of Tricolored Heron Chicks
I stopped by their nest again about an hour and half the after the images from my post Tricolored Heron Chicks Being Fed
The chicks were awake and looking around.
And one was quite curious!
The sticks you can see were about the extent of the nest, with not much to hold them in.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida
April 29, 2021
Blue and Red: Tricolored Heron
Tucked in on his nest, waiting.
Tricolored Heron Chicks Being Fed
I missed the adult’s arrival back at the nest but this trio of Tricolored Heron chicks was quick to prompt the parent to produce food.
Like many of the herons the parents regurgitate what they have caught to feed their offspring.
The biting/snapping/pulling of the chicks seems to have some stimulating action on the process. No worries, no images of the actual food here today.
The squawking may just be for show, and always seems to state I Want More!
When the delivery is over the adult quickly gets out of reach. It’s a wonder any of them come out of this with their eyes intact.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida
April 29, 2021
Tricolored Heron Breeding Plumage
Tricolored Herons were nesting at St. Augustine Alligator Farm at the end of April. They build their nests all over the boardwalk area and are easily viewed.
This was my first time seeing one with the full breeding head plumage up.
The intense blue on the beak rivals that of a Little Blue Heron.
Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park hosts a wading bird rookery that formed on its own over the Alligator Swamp. Alligators provide protection from tree-climbing predators.
Tricolored Heron Fishing on the Fly
These images show off the behavior better than the bird.
I had never seen a Tricolored Heron fish while flying.
He repeated this several times and dragging his feet in the water was part of the routine, perhaps to startle fish into moving.
You can just see his tiny catch hanging out of his beak.
