Monday, February 9, 2009

Egretta tricolor tricolored heron;Louisiana heron (Also: tricolored heron)

Food Habits:
Tricolored herons usually stand in shallow water to find and catch prey. The bird has many different types of prey-catching behaviors. Hancock and Kushlan call their most frequent form of prey catching behavior a "walk-quickly-running-open wing tactile sequence" (Hancock & Kushlan, 1984). Egretta tricolor's prey catching behavior is varied depending on the habitat in which they live, but almost all their food is found in shallow waters. Unlike other heron species which change their diet depending on changing environmental conditions, the tricolored heron changes "...their foraging habitats and feeding strategies in order to continue to encounter preferred prey items" (Hill, 2001).

Ninety percent of the diet of Egretta tricolor is composed of fish. It also eats "...amphibians, crustaceans, gastropods, leeches, worms, spiders, and insects..." (Hancock & Elliott, 1978). (Hancock and Elliott, 1978; Hancock and Kushlan, 1984; Hill, 2001)

LaLonde, N. 2003. "Egretta tricolor" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed February 07, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Egretta_tricolor.html.






Photos by Juan Aguero (juanKa)
Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park
Camera Canon 40D, Lens 300mm L IS

1 comment:

Sofia said...

Lindas fotos como siempre...yo posso no comentar siempre, ma vengo
todos los dias a tu blog...un beso Juanka!;)