Month: March 2026

Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with blue beak. Contrasted with other photos taken at different times of the year. In addition to the color of beak change, the legs also change color. The image with the beak pointed to the sky is taken while in a mating pose. A few other images added from those taken over the years including a juvenile and an adult on the nest.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron likes to hunt and feed at night and we occasionally see them sleeping in the daytime.  Here we found him trying to sleep in the mangrove today. I have added photos of another Yellow-crowned Night-Heron we discovered in Richardson Park in Wilton Manor Florida today. Note at one point, probably while trying to sleep, we see his Nictitating Membrane, the protective layer over his eye.

The snowy plover is among the rarest endemic shorebirds in the Americas. Since 2014, it is listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN because of a moderately rapid population decline caused primarily by habitat degradation and human disturbance. At the beginning of the breeding season, males excavate multiple nest scrapes that are advertised to females; one of these scrapes is later selected for breeding. Some females will desert their brood soon after the chicks hatch to re-mate with another male, while their first mate will continue to rear the chicks. Such polygamy is uncommon in birds, and is possibly a strategy to maximize breeding success. (Wikipedia )