Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — This Tricolored Heron has obviously been taking hunting lessons from the Reddish Egret, but it has developed it’s own routine which involves repeated leaps into the air instead runs through the water, and then the umbrella pose before the strike. It is a behavior I have never seen in a Tricolored…but then I have not, to be honest, spent a lot of time with Tricoloreds. I had a lot of fun watching this one hunt, and took way too many photos trying to catch the action. (I never think to switch to video until I get home to process the photos. Yes a video would have been nice 🙁 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight modifications (to catch the action). Processed in Photomator.