The Tricolored Heron – as its name suggests – is clothed in three main colors: rusty breeding plumes on the back, and pink to red eyes in adults; white on the front of the neck and a flash of white on the back of the head of breeding birds; and an overall blue-gray on the back, neck and wings of adults. You might say they are red, white, and blue – patriotic birds. But they are not limited to the United States, but are found in coastal wetland areas of the eastern U.S. south through the Caribbean to the mouth of the Amazon in South America. In North America they are thought of as being a southern coastal bird, but there have been breeding populations in suitable habitats up the east coast to Maine and occasionally are found in midwestern states.
At one time this medium-sized heron was the most abundant heron in North America, but its populations have declined as a result of habitat loss, reduced food supplies, and chemical pollution. Its numbers are still high, but it has been declining steadily and in 2011 it was designated as a threatened species in Florida.