{"id":4992,"date":"2012-05-14T03:55:13","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4992"},"modified":"2025-08-21T13:28:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:28:43","slug":"tricolored-heron-egretta-tricolor-in-breeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/14\/tricolored-heron-egretta-tricolor-in-breeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in Breeding Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor<\/em>) in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto,\u00a0Florida\u00a0is one of those files.<\/p>\n

\"TricoloredTricolored Heron in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 220mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the\u00a0day I photographed this heron there was a sea fog that burned off very rapidly once the warmth of the sun’s rays touched it.<\/p>\n

I was in great company, Adrian Burke and I had met at the north beach parking lot and there were birds, birds and more birds that day.<\/p>\n

Even though I have culled some bad images from the folder for that date it is still brimming with images I haven’t yet processed.<\/p>\n

I was sitting in\u00a0water\u00a0up to my bum\u00a0in the middle of a small tidal lagoon when the Tricolored walked by, it was stalking prey on the shoreline and not paying much attention to me at all.<\/p>\n

I like how it looks like the heron is trying to sneak past me in this frame even though I know it could have cared less about the sopping wet person with one big eye watching it walk by.<\/p>\n

This was taken right at the end of the photo session and it was a great feeling to have filled almost all of my memory cards… and the memories in my mind of that morning too.<\/p>\n

Good light. Good Birds. Great company. What more could this woman ask for?<\/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":"

Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129720,"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":[4004,4386,4030,4053,5132,13717,14752,4116,173,627,626,8375,4139,3989,313,3996],"class_list":["post-4992","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-blue-bill","tag-breeding","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coastal","tag-coastal-habitat","tag-coastal-island","tag-egretta-tricolor","tag-gulf-coast","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-saltwater-marsh","tag-spartina","tag-tricolored-heron","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5614.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1iw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6548,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/10\/tricolored-heron-in-breeding-plumage-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":4992,"position":0},"title":"Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-plumage-prey-mia-mcpherson-2149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-plumage-prey-mia-mcpherson-2149.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-plumage-prey-mia-mcpherson-2149.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-plumage-prey-mia-mcpherson-2149.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7421,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/05\/breeding-plumage-tricolored-heron-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":4992,"position":1},"title":"Breeding plumage Tricolored Heron in flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always liked this image of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage that flew past me while I sat in the water of a tidal lagoon near a Spartina marsh in Florida. Warm water, a sea breeze, birds, nature and photography.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Breeding plumage Tricolored Heron in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tricolored-heron-breeding-flight-mia-mcpherson5517.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tricolored-heron-breeding-flight-mia-mcpherson5517.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tricolored-heron-breeding-flight-mia-mcpherson5517.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8687,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/23\/tricolored-heron-in-breeding-plumage-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4992,"position":3},"title":"Tricolored Heron in Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was digging through my image files yesterday and came across a series of Tricolored Heron images that I had never edited from a May morning in 2009 when I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto's north beach.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron resting after eating, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-surf-mia-mcpherson-2177.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-surf-mia-mcpherson-2177.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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bird that used to be called the Louisiana Heron. 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-mia-mcpherson-8889.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}