Wildlife In Guatemala: A Tricolored Heron Is Seen Flying While Migrating In Guatemala Stock Image

A Tricolored heron is seen flying while migrating, in the Las Lisas beach in Guatemala. The tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor), formerly known as the Louisiana heron, is a small species of heron native to coastal parts of the Americas. The species is more solitary than other species of heron in the Americas and eats a diet consisting mostly of small fish. Tricolored herons breed in swamps and other coastal habitats and nests in colonies, often with other herons, usually on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs. In each clutch, three to seven eggs are typically laid. The tricolored heron is the second most coastal heron in the United States. The species' range follows the northeastern United States, south along the coast, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, to northern South America as far south as Brazil. In the Pacific region, it ranges from Peru to California, but it is only a non-breeding visitor to the far north. It was likely the most numerous heron in North America until the cattle egret arrived to the continent in the 1950s. While the species' population appears to be on the decline, it remains quite common. The bird is listed as "Threatened" by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The tricolored heron is more solitary when foraging than other North American herons. When it forages for its prey, it is typically belly-deep in water, alone or at the edge of a mixed flock. Kent (1986) found that the diets of tricolored herons in Florida consisted of 99.7% fish and prawns. While other members of Egretta may also eat crabs and opportunistically forage for terrestrial arthropods, the tricolored heron has been consistently observed to be almost exclusively piscivorous, primarily feeding on members of Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae and Poeciliidae, as well as Centropomidae and Cichlidae.