Plate 115
Havell CCXVII
Louisiana Heron
(Hydranassa tricolor)
Despite its name, the Louisiana heron ranges over a wide area, sometimes traveling as far north as New York and west to California. It is most abundant, however, in the coastal areas of the South, and Audubon observed great colonies nesting in the Florida Keys during his trip to that area in the spring of 1832. “Delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in its movements,” Audubon exclaimed. “Watch its motions, as it leisurely walks over the pure sand beaches of the coast of Florida, arrayed in the full beauty of i¬ts spring plumage. Its pendent crest exhibits its glossy tints, its train falls gracefully…” Audubon drew this heron in the spring of 1832; the background, by Lehman, shows a Florida key, or reeflike island, overgrown with low, dense shrubs and graceful royal palms. ¬¬
Source: The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon. Copyright 1966 by American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.
Learn more about this print on the National Audubon Society's website.