{"id":7009,"date":"2013-01-03T04:50:27","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T11:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7009"},"modified":"2025-08-21T16:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:16:41","slug":"tricolored-heron-striking-at-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/03\/tricolored-heron-striking-at-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Tricolored Heron Striking At Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tricolored<\/p>\n

Tricolored heron striking at prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Tricolored Heron image has always intrigued and amused me. I’m amused because I caught the moment just before the Tricolored Heron’s head submerged under the water and that I still managed to get eye contact.<\/p>\n

I am intrigued by how these herons evolved to have long necks that give them the ability to make lightning fast strikes at their prey some distance from their bodies.<\/p>\n

This Tricolored Heron<\/span><\/a> had been slowly walking when it spotted its prey and struck at it. The heron missed the prey with this attempt but caught quite a few as the heron hunted close to me while I photographed it in a quiet lagoon in Florida.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I am intrigued by how these herons evolved to have long necks that give them the ability to make lightning fast strikes at their prey some distance from their bodies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,254],"tags":[4021,4116,37,173,3997,519,3980,6978,2051,3989,4001,373],"class_list":["post-7009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-tricolored-herons","tag-bird-photography","tag-egretta-tricolor","tag-florida-2","tag-gulf-coast","tag-lagoon","tag-nature","tag-pinellas-county","tag-splash","tag-striking","tag-tricolored-heron","tag-wading-bird","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t