Bird
Tricolored Heron
Egretta tricolor
Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in 35 of 133 counties and cities, across 7 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 35 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 7

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 35 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 7
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 7
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.




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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
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 (25)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Beach Year-round.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Beach Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Year-round.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Year-round.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Year-round.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
Seasons in Virginia
- Year-round: nests here, in 35 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 116
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Dwarf SpikerushEleocharis parvula
- Beaked SpikerushEleocharis rostellata
- Green AshFraxinus pennsylvanica
- Pumpkin AshFraxinus profunda
- Shore QuillwortIsoetes riparia
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Narrowleaf Pond-lilyNuphar sagittifolia
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Panicum virgatum var. virgatumPanicum virgatum var. virgatum
- Halberd-leaf TearthumbPersicaria arifolia
- Swamp SmartweedPersicaria hydropiperoides
- Arrowleaf TearthumbPersicaria sagittata
- Swamp DockRumex verticillatus
- Dwarf ArrowheadSagittaria subulata
- Dwarf GlasswortSalicornia bigelovii
- Lizard's-tailSaururus cernuus
- Big CordgrassSpartina cynosuroides
- Prairie CordgrassSpartina pectinata
- Silky DogwoodSwida amomum
- Bald CypressTaxodium distichum
- Greater Marsh St. John's-wortTriadenum walteri
- Saltmarsh Water-hempAmaranthus cannabinus
- False Indigo-bushAmorpha fruticosa
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
Wildlife 242
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
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)







































