Bird
Tricolored Heron
Egretta tricolor
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in 53 of 64 parishes, across 5 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 53 of 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 53 of 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 5
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (30)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (24)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Year-round.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Year-round.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Year-round.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Beach Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Beach Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Year-round.
Northeast (3)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Year-round.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (3)
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Year-round.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in 53 of 64 parishes.
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Louisiana, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 128
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
Plants 84
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Pinewoods FingergrassEustachys petraea
- Sea OatsUniola paniculata
- Beach Evening-primroseOenothera drummondii
- Saltwater False-willowBaccharis angustifolia
- Gulf CrotonCroton punctatus
- CamphorweedHeterotheca subaxillaris
- Cottony Golden-asterChrysopsis gossypina
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Birds 169
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-chinned HummingbirdArchilochus alexandri
- BobolinkDolichonyx oryzivorus
- Bronzed CowbirdMolothrus aeneus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Rufous HummingbirdSelasphorus rufus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Vesper SparrowPooecetes gramineus
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
Plants 20
- Slender FimbryFimbristylis autumnalis
- Purple SpikerushEleocharis atropurpurea
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- BagpodGlottidium vesicarium
- Tropical FlatsedgeCyperus surinamensis
- Blunt Spike RushEleocharis obtusa
- False DaisyEclipta prostrata
- Bristly SedgeCarex comosa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Southern Marsh YellowcressRorippa teres
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
- Ditch FimbryFimbristylis schoenoides
Sounds, bays and tidal flats
Birds 85
- Parasitic JaegerStercorarius parasiticus
- BuffleheadBucephala albeola
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus
- Western Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus nivosus
- Interior Least TernSternula antillarum athalassos
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
- Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis
Plants 8
- Shoal-grassHalodule wrightii
- Sago PondweedStuckenia pectinata
- Horned PondweedZannichellia palustris
- American WaterwortElatine americana
- Seashore DropseedSporobolus virginicus
- American EelgrassVallisneria americana
- Widgeon-grassRuppia maritima
- Carolina GrasswortLilaeopsis carolinensis
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP year-round habitat model for Tricolored Heron
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)














































