{"id":6548,"date":"2012-11-10T05:12:35","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T12:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6548"},"modified":"2024-06-22T07:35:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T12:35:13","slug":"tricolored-heron-in-breeding-plumage-with-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/10\/tricolored-heron-in-breeding-plumage-with-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tricolored\u00a0Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a simple image of a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor<\/em>) in breeding plumage with a small fish in its bill. The heron provided its own bait naturally by capturing it in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

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. I’ve added no saturation to this image, these are the natural colors.<\/p>\n

Image taken in 2009 at Fort De Soto’s north beach.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129716,"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":[4004,4265,4053,5132,14752,14751,4116,4432,4077,627,626,4106,3989,313,3996,4119],"class_list":["post-6548","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-baitfish","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coastal","tag-coastal-island","tag-coastal-key","tag-egretta-tricolor","tag-fish","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-prey","tag-tricolored-heron","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-waves"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-plumage-prey-mia-mcpherson-2149.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1HC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4992,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/14\/tricolored-heron-egretta-tricolor-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":6548,"position":0},"title":"Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron trying to sneak by, 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-mia-mcpherson-5614.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-mia-mcpherson-5614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5614.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/tricolored-heron-breeding-mia-mcpherson-5614.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":6548,"position":1},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-surf-mia-mcpherson-2177.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tricolored-heron-surf-mia-mcpherson-2177.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":6548,"position":2},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tricolored-heron-breeding-flight-mia-mcpherson5517.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16024,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/02\/tricolored-heron-hunting-the-gulf-of-mexicos-shoreline\/","url_meta":{"origin":6548,"position":3},"title":"Tricolored Heron Hunting The Gulf Of Mexico’s Shoreline","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons and larger than Snowy Egrets and all three of these wading birds hunt in many of the same locations along the Gulf Coast.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron hunting the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s shoreline, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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":62931,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/19\/tricolored-herons-in-florida-habitats\/","url_meta":{"origin":6548,"position":4},"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":1088,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/10\/14\/tricolored-herons\/","url_meta":{"origin":6548,"position":5},"title":"Tricolored Herons","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another one of my favorite wading birds is the Tricolored Heron, a 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\/6548","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=6548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}