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Birds
Tricoloured heron
Tricoloured heron · Egretta tricolor
The tricoloured heron stands out with its strongly contrasting plumage and hunts energetically in shallow waters along remote shorelines.
Fact file
- Size
- About 56 to 66 centimetres tall and weighs on average 350 to 415 grams
- Males and females
- Sexes hardly distinguishable by appearance
- Sounds
- Soft croaking or nasal calls, mostly during the breeding season
- Diet
- Mainly small fish, also crustaceans and insect larvae
- Offspring
- Egg-laying period between March and July, 3 to 4 chicks per nest
How to identify Tricoloured heron
The tricoloured heron has a slender build and is characterised by its contrasting plumage. Its neck is long and its body narrow. The breast and belly are bright white, while the flanks and back of the head show a dark slate blue. A distinctive reddish-brown stripe runs down the front of the neck.
In juvenile plumage brown tones dominate; in adulthood the three eponymous colour zones – blue, chestnut brown, white – stand out clearly. In its breeding plumage in spring the blue appears particularly intense. Its long, thin bill is usually yellowish at the base and dark towards the tip. Confusion with the little egret or great egret can be ruled out: only the tricoloured heron has this striking gradation of colours.
More in the app
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- general viewing tips
Where Tricoloured heron live
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