Portrait of a juvenile Great Blue Heron – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I saw plenty of wading birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and wanted to share photos of three of them this morning.
The first is a portrait of a juvenile Great Blue Heron which tickled me because here in northern Utah I am not often able to get close enough to these large wading birds and it is a real treat when I can get portraits of them. This juvenile was on the north side of the auto tour route at the refuge and I was able to take more than a dozen images of it.
Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Not too far from where I photographed the juvenile Great Blue Heron I stopped to take some photos of some grebes and when I noticed a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron flying towards me almost head on I started taking images of it and when it turned towards the south I was able to photograph it in great light with blue sky and the out of focus Promontory Mountains in the distance. I saw quite a few juvenile Black-Crowns take off from the marshes yesterday but I was only able to photograph a few.
Snowy Egret portrait at Bear River MBR – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 320, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The last wading birds I photographed yesterday morning was on the southern portion of the auto tour route happened when a couple of Snowy Egrets flew in close enough that I could take portraits of them. When this Snowy Egret flew in it raised its head feathers and acted aggressive towards the one that had been fishing by itself for quite some time. This egret eventually chased the other one off.
I had fun photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.
I’ve heard directly and indirectly from some of the people I was worried about in Florida already and know that they are safe. I don’t know about the condition of their homes because many of them went to shelters and are still under curfew.
Mia
Click here to view more of my wading bird photos plus facts and information about the individual species.
Lovely photos, I was looking forward to see what you would post from the beautiful Sunday. Is the Snowy Egret one of the birds by Ron’s truck that I saw as I pulled around the corner?
Thank you for the beauties you share. So much.
Welcomed beauty on another sad anniversary of 9/11…a visual reminder that courage comes in many colors, races, religions and national ethnicities…