Tricolored Heron

Sightings
Tricolored Heron was seen in the Caroni swamps in the late afternoon as small flocks of these attractive birds came in to roost. We were on a boat trip into the swamps which allowed us to have quite close views of these birds. This photograph shows two birds flying in formation alongside a single Snowy Egret.

Species
Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor was known formerly in North America as Louisiana Heron. It nests in colonies, often with other herons, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. Its breeding habitat is sub-tropical swamps. There are two subspecies of which E. t. ruficollis breeds in the Caribbean.

Status and Distribution
Tricolored Heron is a species of least concern with a stable population. It is a resident breeder from the Gulf states of the United States and northern Mexico south through Central America and the Caribbean to central Brazil and Peru. It is a common resident in Trinidad and Tobago with numbers augmented by the arrival of migrants from both north and south America.

References
BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 56

Photograph
Photographed in the late afternoon at 1/320th of a second at f5.6 and ISO 500.