[Posted by Chuck Almdale, Photos by Femi Faminu & Chris Tosdevin]

You don’t see these very often in SoCal. I’ve never had one at the Lagoon. This Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) has been at the lagoon July 11-12. So far. It used to be called the Louisiana Heron. I’ve read that the name was changed for being misleading: as the bird’s range along coastal marshes goes well down into northern South America, north to New Jersey and west to Baja California. Guess where this one probably came from.

As you look at these photos, see if you can develop a feeling for what this bird’s size is: small, medium, large, 46″, 39″, 30″, 26″, 24″, 20″ (heron/egret sizes from National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America.)

OK, before you continue downward, what size, if any, did you decide?

Below you’ll see a comparison to Great Egret.

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If you were far wrong on your guess, congratulations!
You’ve just experienced first-hand how easy it is to misjudge the size of a solitary bird.
Never forget that.