Egretta tricolor ruficollis
Status: Rare casual summer visitor central. Accidental in spring.
Documentation: Description: 7 Aug 1971 Clay Co (Van Remsen eBird.org; description obtained by Cink 1973)
Taxonomy: Two subspecies are recognized (AviList 2025): ruficollis (including occidentalis) in southern North America, south to northwestern South America and Trinidad, and tricolor in northeast and north-central South America.
Nebraska records are presumed ruficollis (Pyle 2008); Pyle later (2025) synonymized ruficollis with tricolor based on their not meeting the generally accepted 75% rule for subspecies diagnosability.
Spring: There is one documented report, a description of an adult at Swanson Reservoir, Hitchcock Co 29 Apr 2001 (Stephen J. Dinsmore; Jorgensen 2003).
An intriguing additional report was of one in Sarpy Co 13 May 1991 that may have been the same bird as that seen across the Missouri River in Iowa 4 May 1991 and acceptably documented there (Korpi 1991, Greer 1992). One was reported in Lancaster Co 22 May 1997 without details (Silcock 1997).
Spring records such as these are likely birds moving north to northeastern South Dakota, where breeding was first noted in 1986 and has occurred in two other locations since (Tallman et al 2002). Breeding has also occurred in North Dakota and has been regular at times in central Kansas (Frederick 2020).
Summer: There are three accepted records. Reports in Jul-Aug are presumably post-breeding or post-fledging dispersers from southern North America.
27 Jul 2003 Funk WPA, Phelps Co (written description, Randolph, Harding; Silcock 2003)
7 Aug 1971 Clay Co (Van Remsen; description obtained by Cink 1973; cited above)
30 Aug-2 Sep 2003 two juveniles photographed Clay Co (Jorgensen; Brogie 2004)
Comments: A specimen, HMM 21718, purportedly collected 14 Nov 1918 in Kearney Co (Black 1933, 1941; Cink 1973a; Bray et al 1986), in storage at HMM per Bray et al (1985), we consider to be of questionable provenance given its very late date in Nov, the changing of its date and location of collection by about six years (Black 1941), its possible relationship to a purported specimen collected 10 Aug about 1918 at Inland, Clay Co (Cink1973) that appears to have disappeared from the HMM (Bray et al 1986), and the doubts about the veracity of certain HMM/Brooking Collection specimens (Sharpe et al 2001; Birds of Nebraska-Online, see Introduction).
Images
Abbreviations
HMM: Hastings Municipal Museum
WPA: Waterfowl Production Area (Federal)
Literature Cited
AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.
Black, C.A. 1933. An addition to the Nebraska bird list: The Northern Louisiana Heron. NBR 1: 31.
Black, C.A. 1941. The Northern Louisiana Heron in Nebraska: A correction. NBR 9: 16.
Bray, T.E., B.K. Padelford, and W.R. Silcock. 1986. The birds of Nebraska: A critically evaluated list. Published by the authors, Bellevue, Nebraska, USA.
Brogie, M.A. 2004. 2003 (15th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 72: 59-65.
Cink, C.L. 1973. Louisiana Heron in Clay County. NBR 41: 14-15.
Greer, J.G. 1992. Tricolored Heron in Pottawattamie County. Iowa Bird Life 62: 88-89.
Jorgensen, J.G. 2003. 2001 (13th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 71: 97-102.
Korpi, R.T. 1991. Spring 1991 Occurrence Report. NBR 59: 63-98.
Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part II, Anatidae to Alcidae. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, California, USA.
Pyle, P. 2025. A Practical Subspecies Taxonomy for North American Birds. North American Birds 76(1).
Sharpe, R.S., W.R. Silcock, and J.G. Jorgensen. 2001. The Birds of Nebraska, their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Silcock, W.R. 1997. Spring Field Report, March-May 1997. NBR 65: 74-99.
Silcock, W.R. 2003. Summer Field Report, June-July 2003. NBR 71: 106-127.
Tallman, D.A., Swanson, D.L., and J.S. Palmer. 2002. Birds of South Dakota. Midstates/Quality Quick Print, Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2026. Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 13 Aug 2026