Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Tricolored Heron FAMILY - Ardeidae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Egretta tricolor ruficollis SYNONYMS - Ardea tricolor - Müller, 1776 REFERENCES - 1 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Winter visitor - migrant. 33 Resident, species present all year. 33 Resident, species present all year. 3 Apparently secure in Belize 32 Uncommon: occur at low density in proper habitat. 32 Of concern: cayes and coastal zone 6 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 28 District Reference Belize 4 Cayo 5 Corozal 12 Orange Walk 11 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Chiquibul Forest Reserve Sighting Wet season 13 Shipstern Nature Reserve Dry season 12 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 19 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 29 Gallon Jug 18 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting Wet season 20 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Dry season 15 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary 17 Chiquibul National Park Collected as voucher 31 Half Moon Caye Natural Monument Sighting Wet season 24 Half Moon Caye Natural Monument Unknown, i 25 Burdon Canal Nature Reserve Sighting Permanent 9 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve 11 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 10 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 4 Northern Lagoon/Southern Lagoon (Prop 16 Private land, see comments Sighting Wet season 23 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 14 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 8 Private land, see comments Dry season 21 Ambergris Cay 20 Cayes, other; see comments Dry season 22 Cayes, other; see comments 6 Turneffe Reef 16 Monkey River Special Development Area Sighting Wet season 27 Caye Caulker 7 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 29 Cox's Lagoon 4 Belize River 8 Mussel Creek 10 New River 11 Raspaculo River 13 Elevation Reference 1-200 m 29 1-200 m 30 601-800 m 31 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 11 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 20 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 00' to 88 15' 7 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 18 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 22 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 23 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 29 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 22 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 30 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 5 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 22 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 7 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 45' to 89 00' 8 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 26 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 4 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 10' to 88 30' 9 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 21 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 23 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 9 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 30 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 5 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 5 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 00' to 88 30' 16 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 13 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 26 16 30' to 16 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 31 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 12 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 6 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 27 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 26 17 00' to 17 15'; 87 30' to 87 45' 24 17 00' to 17 15'; 87 30' to 87 45' 25 17 52'35" to 18 11'30"; 87 49' to 88 03' 20 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 19 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 26 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 14 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 26 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 30 Subtropical moist 30 Subtropical moist 29 Subtropical Lower Montane moist 31 Marine 25 Marine 24 General Distribution Comments 33* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Uncommon southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Common mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. Common cayes inc. Ambergris. 23*Big Falls Rice Farm; BZ City oil terminal 22*Caye Chapel 14*Gold Button Ranch 8* Banana Bank Ranch 6* Following Cayes; Canejito, Salones S., Rosario, Shipstern 3* Permanent resident, uncommon in summer; common in northern hardwood forests, coastal savannas, mangroves and beaches along the coast of the mainland; uncommon in southern hardwood forests and cayes, including Ambergris Cay. References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements. 3 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 4 Hunt, H. R., J. Tamarack. 1992. Cox Lagoon Crocodile Preserve. Unpub. report. pp.4-8. 5 Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 6 McRae, E., 1994. The Birds of Belize's Coastal Zone: Species, Distribution, Current Status, Threats to Their Well-being, and Potential Measures to Reduce Their impact. Unpublished report. 7 McRae, E. 1993. Preliminary Check-list - Birds of Caye Caulker. 8 Duncan, M., W. Duncan. 1993. Banana Bank, Nov. 1, Checklist provided in lit. 9 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1993. Preliminary Avian Survey of Burdon Canal Nature Reserve. Unpublished report for the Forest Department 10 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1987. Conservation of a Critical Marsh and Lowland habitat, Mussel Creek drainage system, Belize, C.A. Report to NYZS/Wildlife Conservation Society. 11 Noble, B., B. Stewart, J. Dillon. 1994. Lamanai Bird List, Mid-October 1993 - 16 March 1994. 12 Meerman, J. 1993. Checklist of the Birds of the Shipstern Nature Reserve, Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2(10). pp. 71-81. 13 Mallory, E. 1993. Birds of the Upper Raspaculo, Belize: JSSEUR II. Unpublished report. 14 Platt, S. 1993. Wildlife Survey of Gold Button Ranch, Belize. Unpublished report. 15 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 16 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 17 Wood, D. S., R. C. Leberman. 1987. Results of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Expeditions to Belize. III. Distributional Notes on the Birds of Belize. Annals Carnegie Museum. 56(6):137-160. 18 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 19 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 20 Forsythe, D. 1994. Unpublished Belize Trip list June 18-21. 21 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 22 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 23 Jenkins, P. G. 1982. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society Belize Expedition, 1981. 80.pp Unpublished report. 24 Meadows, M. 1982. A Trip to Half Moon Caye 26-30 July, 1982. Belize Audubon Society Bulletin. 14(6):1-2. 25 Miller, C. M., B. W. Miller. 1995. Avian Surveys: Half Moon Caye Natural Monument. Unpublished report for Belize Audubon Society. 26 Robbins, Chandler. 1996. U.S.F.& Wildlife Service Wintering Bird Surveys for Belize. Unpublished data provided by C. Robbins. 27 Meerman, J.C. ed. 1995. Monkey River Special Development Area Stann Creek District, Belize. Belize Tropical Forest Studies Publication #5. Appendix: Bird List. Unpublished Technical report for B.E.S.T. 28 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List of Migratory Birds. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794. (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711). 29 Vallely, A. C., A. A. Whitman. 1996. The birds of Hill Bank, northern Belize. Unpublished report for Programme for Belize. 30 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995. Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996. 31 ROM. 1997. Royal Ontario Museum, Division of Birds, Holdings of Belize specimens through Jan. 1, 1997. Provided by Brad Millen. 32 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize, Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern. Report to Programme for Belize/TNC Wings of America Program. 33 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98