Birds of Texas

Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) 26"

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Photographs - © Walter Bauer, Sugar Land, Texas - 1999

Field Marks: A very slender, snaky, rather small dark heron with a clear white belly and white rump. The contrasting white belly is the key mark in any plumage.
Voice: In colony, croaking notes squawks.
Where found: New Jersey south to Brazil. It partially migrates.
Texas: Resident mainly along the coast. This particular bird was seen in our bayou, First Colony, Sugar Land, Texas in January 1999.

Habitat: Marshes, swamps, bayous, rice fields, lagoons and shores.

Nest: A platform of sticks in a bush or small tree in the swamp, or on an island and in a colony. Eggs (3-5) and are bluish.