{"id":14914,"date":"2014-05-08T05:28:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T11:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14914"},"modified":"2025-08-21T18:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:19:32","slug":"crouching-tricolored-herons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/08\/crouching-tricolored-herons\/","title":{"rendered":"Crouching Tricolored Herons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CrouchingCrouching Tricolored Heron – Nikon D200, handheld,\u00a0f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Tricolored Herons use many foraging behaviors to obtain their prey including walking quickly then crouching before stabbing their prey. For some reason when I see this behavior I think of a crouching tiger even though herons are birds not tigers.<\/p>\n

\"CrouchedCrouched Tricolored Heron\u00a0– Nikon D200, handheld,\u00a0f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I was in Florida I observed the crouching behavior in Tricolored Herons on the Gulf shore more often than when I saw them foraging in tidal lagoons. That might be because the wave action of the Gulf of Mexico pushes small bait fish towards the shore making their prey more available and in tidal lagoons the waves are smaller and the water is often calmer.<\/p>\n

These crouching Tricolored Herons were photographed about a month and a half apart in nearly the same location at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach. It is possible that the images are of the same heron but it is also possible that they are two different birds.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Tricolored Heron photos plus facts and information about this species<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tricolored Herons use many foraging behaviors to obtain their prey including walking quickly then crouching before stabbing their prey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,254],"tags":[4004,2533,4506,4116,4136,4077,626,3970,4031,3989,4001,313],"class_list":["post-14914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-tricolored-herons","tag-adult","tag-crouched","tag-crouching","tag-egretta-tricolor","tag-foraging","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-herons","tag-hunting","tag-nonbreeding","tag-tricolored-heron","tag-wading-bird","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-crouching-mia-mcpherson-1314.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Sy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62931,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/19\/tricolored-herons-in-florida-habitats\/","url_meta":{"origin":14914,"position":0},"title":"Tricolored Herons In Florida Habitats","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When I lived in Florida Tricolored Herons were among my favorite wading birds to photograph and I found them in many different types of habitats.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron at Roosevelt Wetland, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/tricolored-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/tricolored-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/tricolored-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2751.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/tricolored-heron-wetlands-mia-mcpherson-2751.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16170,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/17\/tricolored-heron-in-the-waves-of-the-gulf\/","url_meta":{"origin":14914,"position":1},"title":"Tricolored Heron In The Waves Of The Gulf","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a simple Tricolored Heron image this morning that I created at Fort De Soto County Park in March of 2009.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron in the waves, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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It can be found in estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, in inland freshwater marshes in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron side view, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-mia-mcpherson-8889.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-mia-mcpherson-8889.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-mia-mcpherson-8889.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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