Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

How to find it

River and mangrove boat tours are a reliable way to see it, and a mangrove tour operator says it is seen regularly in the mangroves. It is seen most often on Tarcoles River boat tours, and also on most river and mangrove tours. It can also be found along creeks on early morning hikes, as reported on a trail at Curu Wildlife Refuge. Scan the banks and the edges of slow, open water for a still, short-legged shape. Because it blends in so well, go slowly and look twice at anything motionless.

How to recognise it

The bare yellow throat is the key field mark, and this is the largest of the tiger-herons.

Adults measure about 80 cm and weigh about 1.2 kg. They show:

- a black crown

- slate sides to the head

- an orange eye

- yellow-green skin on the face

The neck is finely barred in black and buff, with a central streak of chestnut and white down the front. That tiger-like barring is hard to see in the field.

Young birds still begging for food show bold brown and white stripes. A juvenile looks duller than the warmer rufous of young Fasciated and Rufescent, and its throat can look nearly white.

What it sounds like

Recording: Hersson Ramírez, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This is a patient hunter. It often stands motionless and waits for fish, frogs or crabs to come within reach of its long bill, and it tends to stay still and live alone.

Mangrove kayakers once watched one try to swallow a fish about 8 inches long. It took the fish sideways, the fish stuck in its neck, and it finally went down. A wildlife writer filmed one eating a young crocodile along the Cañas River.

One photographer followed a bird that flew up to a low branch and noted that its short legs give it an odd but unmistakable shape.

Where it lives

Compared with the other tiger-herons, it prefers open areas and large bodies of water. It uses river banks, lake edges, marshes, ponds, creeks, estuaries and mangroves.

The National Museum of Costa Rica lists it as resident from sea level to about 500 m elevation. In Costa Rica it is a widely distributed resident, generally uncommon in the lowlands of both slopes.

When to see it

Nesting can happen in any month in Costa Rica, but it is most common in the rainy season, with a peak at the start of it.

Similar birds

Costa Rica has three tiger-heron species: Bare-throated, Rufescent (forest) and Fasciated (river). Only the Bare-throated has the bare yellow throat. Fasciated shows fine barring on the cheeks and crown plus a white throat, and a photographer at Manuel Antonio once took Fasciated for Bare-throated because of their dark crowns. Bare-throated has a grey head, on the cheeks and behind the eyes, and hunts on large, open, slow water, while Fasciated prefers fast-flowing streams.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans know it by the AOCR name Garza-Tigre Cuellinuda, and also as Garzón, Martín Peña and Pájaro Vaco. Cuellinuda means bare-necked, a name used in Costa Rica and Panama because it points to the bare throat.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the National Museum catalogue rates it Least Concern and a year-round breeder.

Photography tips

Boats are the easy way to get close. One photographer shot several at Tortuguero National Park from a moving boat and noted its odd postures when drying its feathers or standing around. Another photographed one perched on the bank of the Tarcoles River with a 300 mm lens.