The First Record of Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in British Columbia. By Rick Toochin. Published: June 3, 2023.

The Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) is a medium sized heron that is found in North America in the southeastern United States (Sibley 2000). This species breeds mostly in coastal habitats, including estuaries, salt marshes, mangrove swamps, river deltas, lagoons, and Salinas, but also frequently in freshwater areas primarily along the immediate coastline of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico (Frederick 2020). The Tricolored Heron’s breeding range extends into the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, particularly in Florida and along the Gulf Coast (Frederick 2020). This species occasionally breeds in Kansas and other interior locations far from the coast (Frederick 2020). Along the Atlantic Coast of North America, this species has bred irregularly north to southern Maine on Stratton Island, in York County (Custer and Osborn 1977), northern Massachusetts on House Island, in Essex County (Veit and Petersen 1993), and southwestern Connecticut on Norwalk Island, in Fairfield County (Bevier 1994), with nestlings on Chimon Island, at Milford Point (Walton and Finch 1988). Generally, breeds on islands or areas of higher ground that support small trees or shrubs, surrounded by open water or inundated wetland vegetation (Frederick 2020). Colonies usually surrounded by landscapes that include a variety of wetland habitats (Bancroft et al. 1994). The Tricolored Heron Breeds more regularly along the Atlantic Coast of Long Island, New York on the western portion of the south shore; (Andrle and Carroll 1998), at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, New York (Brown et al. 2001); New Jersey from Long Beach Island south to Cape May (Custer and Osborn 1977); Maryland and Virginia including portions of the Delmarva Peninsula (McCann 2010); upper Delaware Bay at Pea Patch Island; (Hess et al. 2000, Frederick 2020); along lower Chesapeake Bay in Dorchester and Somerset counties (McCann 2010). The Tricolored Heron is a common breeder in the coastal plains of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (Custer and Osborn 1977, Dodd and Murphy 1997, Melvin 2010). This species also breeds throughout Florida (including inland sites), where most numerous in south and along coasts; least numerous along coast of panhandle (Stevenson and Anderson 1994). In the Gulf States, the Tricolored Heron is confined to the coastal plain of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas (Lowery 1955, Portnoy 1977, Texas Colonial Waterbird Society 1982, Dusi and Dusi 1988)

 

Birds breeding inland are less common but has bred up to several hundred kilometers inland in South Carolina in Berkeley County, with a single record in 1986 (Belser and Post 1987). This species also regularly summers in several counties of central Kansas, particularly Cheyenne Bottoms National Wildlife Refuge in Barton County, where breeding has been attempted with varying success since 1974 (Thompson and Ely 1989). Sites of other interior breeding records include several locations in west and northcentral Texas and is occasional to regular in Austin, Colorado, and Marion Counties (Oberholser 1974, Runnels 1980), rarely to South Dakota (Skadsen 1986, Meeks et al. 1996) and North Dakota (Schmidt 1979) as far north as Kidder County (Svingen and Martin 2009). The Tricolored Heron has been reported breeding in California at Scammons and San Ignacio Lagoons (Grinnell 1928) in the 1920s and has been suspected to have bred once in the Salton Sea, in California (Molina and Sturm 2004, Patten and McCaskie 2003).

 

In Middle America, the Tricolored Heron breeds along the Pacific Coast from Baja California Sur at the Ensenada de la Paz, (Becerril-M and Carmona 1997, Erickson and Howell 2001); Ejido in Oaxaca (Mellinck and Castillo-Guerrero 2002), in central Sonora from sea level to 300 m, Colima at Laguna de Cuyutlan (Mellink and Riojas-Lopez 2008), south to El Salvador; along the Atlantic Coast of Tamaulipas and north to Veracruz, Mexico; and at a few sites along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and the west coast of the southern Baja Peninsula (Howell and Webb 2010). This species has also been recorded breeding on Pajaros Island in Tempesque Basin of western Costa Rica (Stiles and Skutch 1989), and in Panama on Taborcilla Island, in western Panama Province, and less commonly on the coast of Herrera Province (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989).

 

In the Caribbean, breeds on the Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Greater Antilles, Providencia, San Andres Islands (Raffaele 2003, Latta et. al. 2006), inland and coastal Puerto Rico (Raffaele 1989, Frederick 2020), including Boqueron Wildlife Refuge (Miranda and Collazo 1997), and the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas (Bond 1993, Raffaele 1989, Evans 1990, Wetmore and Swales 1931). The Tricolored Heron is a breeding resident and non-breeding visitor in Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the lowlands, most frequently on or near the coast (Frederick 2020). Also found on most of the major satellite islands including the Cayemites, Ile a Vache, Ile de la Gonave, and Islas Beata and Saona (Latta et. al. 2006). Listed by the IUCN Red List as “native”, with mention of breeding from: Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands (BirdLife International 2016). Known to breed 

in Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire (Voous 1983), and in Trinidad (ffrench 1991).

 

In South America, the Tricolored Heron is primarily a coastal bird (Hilty and Brown 1986). This species is common below 1,000 m in Colombia and Ecuador at the Muisne River Estuary in Esmereldas Province (Cheek 2009) in brackish or salt water (Hilty and Brown 1986).  The Tricolored Heron occasionally breeds southward on the Pacific Coast to southern Peru. On the Atlantic Coast of South America, locally common in Venezuela at Margarita, Los Roques, La Orchila Island; uncommon and seasonal inland; (De Schauensee and Phelps 1978, Hilty 2003). Commonly breeds in large numbers in Suriname and Guyana (Tostain et al. 1992, Haverschmidt and Mees 1994); breeds sporadically on the northeastern coast of Brazil, with 100-150 pairs seen on Cajul Island (Martínez 2010), probably to the mouth of the Amazon River at Maranhao and Paui (Blake 1977). Southern range of breeding and abundance throughout South America remains poorly documented (Frederick 2020).

The Tricolored Heron is a migratory species; however, there is little information (Fredrick 2020). Migrants most likely use a variety of wetland habitats during continental migration, especially along rivers and through coastal wetlands (Fredrick 2020). Some migration takes place over open water, with sightings 100+ km off the Atlantic Coast of Florida (Stevenson and Anderson 1994); stopover habitats on intervening islands in the Caribbean are thus likely important, but as yet mostly undocumented (Frederick 2020). This species is an apparent trans-Gulf migrant during spring which suggests that coastal habitat in Louisiana and Mississippi is probably very important for incoming migrants (Frederick 2020).

In the Unites States, the Tricolored Heron winters locally along the Atlantic Coast during warmer winters from southern New Jersey and Delaware south (Sibley 1997). This species more commonly winters from coastal South Carolina south throughout remainder of the breeding range (Fredrick 2020). Numbers decline in the northern part of Florida Peninsula during the winter (Stevenson and Anderson 1994). The Tricolored Heron is found year-round on the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas (Dunn and Alderfer 2017). This species also winters in very small numbers in southern California along the west coast from San Diego (Rogers and Jaramillo 2002) south, at the mouth of the San Diego River and Tijuana River estuary, and infrequently at the Salton Sea, with 7 winter records from 1997 to 2001 (Patten and McCaskie 2003, Iliff et al. 2007), lower Colorado River, and along the coast of Orange County (Small 1994, Molina and Strum 2004). There are 79 accepted records in California by the California Bird Records Committee with the majority coming from southern California, but there are only four records for northern California (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2020). Non-breeding birds’ over-summer widely in Baja California Norte (Howell and Webb 2010). In Florida, this species frequents mangrove swamps, salt marshes, coastal mudflats, cypress swamps, canals, ditches, freshwater herbaceous marshes, and lake edges (Palmer 1962, Rodgers et al. 1996). In Louisiana, a variety of fresh- and saltwater wetland habitats; increasingly noted in aquaculture and rice culture impoundments (Fleury 1994). In Texas, Christmas Bird Count data suggest no use of habitat farther inland than Austin (Telfair 1979). In California, winters in coastal lagoons and tidal flats in San Diego County, usually along channels in glasswort marshes (Garrett and Dunn 1981). In Central and South America, coastal mangrove swamps and mudflats; in Central America, to 1,500 m (freshwater; Costa Rica); northern birds thought to overlap extensively with southern races during winter (De Schauensee and Phelps 1978, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Hilty 2003, Howell and Webb 2010).

 

In the Caribbean, wintering populations augment resident populations in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; birds wander through the Lesser Antilles during the non-breeding season (Latta et. al. 2006).

 

In Middle America, winters coastally throughout Baja California, along both coasts of Mexico and Central America from Sonora and Tamaulipas south to southern Panama, in the interior throughout the Central Volcanic Belt of Mexico, and from southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula south to southern Panama (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Howell and Webb 2010). Since 2002, this species is listed as a rare and irregular transient or vagrant in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a maximum of 2 per season to 1680 m (Forcey 2002). In Costa Rica, found primarily in lowlands of both slopes and in Panama primarily on the Pacific slope (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Howell and Webb 2010).

The Tricolored Heron is a casual to accidental migrant north of the breeding range in the mid-western and southwestern states (e-bird database 2021) and in Eastern Canada from Manitoba to the Maritime Provinces (Godfrey 1986), including Newfoundland and Labrador (e-bird database 2021). This species is an accidental vagrant in Saskatchewan (e-bird database 2021).

 

There is a single record of the Tricolored Heron for the Azores (Payne 1979). In the Western Palearctic, this species has been recorded in Gran Canaria Island in November and in Tenerife Island, Spain, the following month, with an extended presence (Dies et al. 2010). In the Galapagos Islands the Tricolored Heron has been recorded a few times (e-bird database 2021). In South America, this species has records of vagrancy from Chile in Coquimbo and Arica (Chester 2008).

 

Along the west coast North of California, the Tricolored Heron is an accidental vagrant. 

In Oregon, there are 2 accepted records by the Oregon Bird Records Committee (OFO 2020). The first was an adult photographed at the Finley National Wildlife Refuge in Benton County 1 from May 12-31, 1976; and an adult photographed at Ona Beach State Park in Lincoln County from November 11-13, 1993 (OFO 2020). There are no records for Washington State (Wahl et al. 2005, WBRC 2020). There is a single accepted record for Idaho by the Idaho Bird Records Committee of an adult well documented at Market Lake Wildlife Management Area in Jefferson County, on May 11, 1996 (Svingen 1996, IBRC 2021).  There is a single accepted record for Alberta of an adult photographed south of Bradshaw on May 22, 1981 (Gollop 1981, Slater and Hudon 2004).  There is a single accepted record for Alaska of an adult photographed on the Chickamin River, in mainland southeast Alaska from May 22-24, 1985 (Gibson et al. 2013). The Tricolored Heron is an accidental vagrant that was only recently added to the avifauna list of British Columbia (Toochin et al. 2018).

 

The identification of the Tricolored Heron is covered in all standard North American field guides. This a medium-sized heron measuring length 60–70 cm in length, with a wingspan of 91-95 cm, slender bill measuring 9–11 cm, and weighing 380 grams (Palmer 1962, Sibley 2000). Sexes are similar in plumage, but male somewhat larger than female with the mean mass of males weighing 415 g, and females 334 g (Dunning 1993b). The Tricolored Heron is the only small delicately built North American heron with white underparts and a slender white foreneck, with dark slaty back and neck in all plumages and ages making this species generally easy to distinguish from all other New World herons. (Sibley 2000, Dunn and Alderfer 2017).  

 

Breeding, also called Alternate plumage is held from February to July (Sibley 2000).  Adults of both sexes acquire new white head crest plumes, mauve to violet neck- and mantle feathers; rufous tinge more obvious on scapulars, back of neck; filamentous plumes of mantle, lower scapular plumes are buff-coloured; legs become pinkish; bill and face become bluish at base; bill black at tip. Breeding males have magenta iris during courtship; inner margin of iris rose to scarlet in females (Rodgers 1978). In non-breeding males and females, the inner iris margin is pink; the iris is brown. The head and neck of immature birds is mostly russet; wings marked with same colouration.

 

Non-breeding or Basic plumage is held from August to January (Sibley 2000).  The head, neck, wings, and tail are slate gray; with long feathers on back that is purplish maroon; the breast, belly, rump, and underwing coverts are white; the chin is white; the throat is marked with tawny or chestnut colour.

There are 2 recognized subspecies of the Tricolored Heron. The following information of the 2 subspecies, follows Martínez-Vilalta and Motis (1992), cf. Palmer (1962), Blake (1977), Payne (1979), diagnosed on the basis of dorsal color, color of the chin and median line on the foreneck, and body size. Intergradation between the subspecies has been reported in northern South America (Bull 1985) and in the Caribbean (Hummelinck and Van der Steen 1977).

The first subspecies of the Tricolored Heron is (Egretta tricolor ruficollis). This subspecies is largely resident from the southeastern United States and western Mexico, including the Baja California peninsula, south through Middle America and the Caribbean basin to Colombia, northwestern Venezuela, and the Netherlands Antilles; a regular vagrant to southwestern and northeastern United States and has reached southern Canada and even the western Palearctic. Dorsum is slaty blue and chin and foreneck white, body size large.

The second and nominate subspecies of the Tricolored Heron is (Egretta tricolor tricolor). This subspecies is resident in South America both on the Pacific Coast in Ecuador and northern Peru and on the Guianan Shield from northeastern Venezuela east of the Orinoco River to northeastern Brazil; also found on Trinidad. This subspecies is like the subspecies (E. t. ruficollis), but the dorsum is grayer, less blue, and the chin and foreneck are chestnut with the overall body size small.

 

The Tricolored Heron is easily distinguished from other bluish North American herons, such as the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), with its contrasting white belly (Dunn and Alderfer 2017). Beware of molting immature Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), which starts out white and becomes dark blue throughout molt, but usually shows a more pied appearance overall and rarely if ever shows an overall bluish plumage with a white belly (Sibley 2000). The Tricolored Heron is slightly taller, slimmer, and more elegant than the Little Blue Heron (Sibley 2000). Tricolored Herons have been documented interbreeding and creating hybrid offspring with the following species of heron; the Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) (Meeks et al. 1996), the Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) (e-bird team 2015), and the Little Blue Heron (Appleton 2017).

 

The Tricolored Heron is an accidental vagrant in British Columbia with an adult bird that was found and photographed by Ken Thorne and Len Van Driel at Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island, on July 12, 2021 (K. Thorne Pers. Comm.). This record fits a pattern of vagrancy across North America of birds turning up in the spring and summer months, likely as spring overshoots. The Tricolored Heron overshoots northward frequently enough that is very likely to be found in British Columbia again in the future, especially from the months of May through July. This species could turn up anywhere in the province in the appropriate habitat.

I want to thank Don Cecile for editing the original manuscript. I want to thank Ken Thorne for the permission to use his photographs of the Tricolored Heron found in Cowichan Bay. All photos are used with permission of the photographer and are fully protected by copyright law. Photographs are not to be reproduced, published or retransmitted on any website without the authorization of the photographer.

 

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