UTSW Rookery

Spring 2016 I started visiting the bird rookery at UTSW Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. It was my first time to see a rookery. In this gallery I am attempting to document what takes place in a rookery for each species of aquatic bird that comes here. It has been an amazing journey that I am sharing here. There are 8 species that nest here and I will divide them by species in the order that they show up.

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Tricolored Heron At The Rookery View 2

Tricolor herons are small like the little blue heron. They are more of a gray color with a hint of purple in their head and breast plumes. They have white plumes on the back of their head during breeding season. Little blues have blue/purple. Tricolor has white under its wings and on it's underbody where little blue is blue all over. This tricolor cooperated and showed off the white under its wings for me as it went into a courtship display activity.
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)
UT Southwest Medical Center Rookery

heron aquatic aquatic bird water fowl waders Rookery dallas texas Southwest Medical Center Bird Rookery breeding season SMC rookery breeding plumage shy shy bird small heron breeding plumes tricolored heron egretta tricolor