Black-crowned Night Herons | on the wing photography

Black-crowned Night Heron Lift Off

By Mia McPherson, on May 16th, 2012%

This is another image that reminds me of the day I photographed it and the great memories of that photo session. Ron and I sat with this Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) for several minutes on the auto tour loop of Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah.

My Nikon D300 is giving me the fits, I’ve had it checked out locally and they can’t replicate the issues I am having of the exposure going wonky intermittently, my shutter speed will go from 1/1000 or higher and then drop to 1/4 to 1/60 resulting in pure snowy white images. Yuck. At any rate right now I am using my backup D200′s until I can get the D300 sent to Nikon.

Black-crowned Night Heron lift off - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light

The day didn’t start off looking great, it looked like it might be cloudy but the light stayed over the refuge while to the south it didn’t look great. There were birds, birds and more birds on the auto tour loop and we were able to catch some wonderful action.

This heron was standing on a little spit of dry land at the edge of a marshy pond, for a bit it just stood there, then it preened a while. Before too long Ron and I could see the bird was going to lift off and fly away. We were ready!

I took a nice series of images as the Black-crowned lifted off and flew past us, I really liked the position of the wings, the look at the intensely red eye and those big, dangling yellow feet in this frame.

After leaving the refuge we stopped at the Maddox Drive In for great Hamburgers and fries.

Birthday Boy Ron appeared to have an awesome day but why wouldn’t we? Great light. Plenty of birds. Super company. I was a happy camper!

Mia

*I pre-scheduled this post because I am away, please feel free to share this with your friends & family!

More Black-crowned Night Heron images

Friday Photos ~ Feathers & Fur

By Mia McPherson, on January 20th, 2012%

For today’s Friday Photos I am mixing it up a bit and posting images of Pronghorns, a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Long-tailed Weasel and an American Kestrel. Please enjoy!

Pronghorns of Antelope Flats, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT
Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) of Antelope Flat, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT
Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 800, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

I am behind on processing (that really isn’t news) but earlier this week I edited some files from a camping trip I made in September of 2011 to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area located in northeast Utah so I had this file on hand.

I photographed this group of Pronghorns in an area known as Antelope Flat which really seems like a fitting name since I saw so many Pronghorn there. Because I was there during the Pronghorn rut I was able to observe and photograph a Pronghorn buck trying to keep control of his does. I’ll do a post on them soon but for now I wanted to share one image of that buck’s “ladies” taken in the early morning light.

Black-crowned Night Heron adult - Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) adult – Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT
Nikon D200, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 330mm, natural light

I photographed this adult Black-crowned Night Heron in early morning light at the Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in northern Utah as it stood on a mound of dead Bulrushes. I find the very long white occipital plume, cherry red eyes and the colors of this night heron appealing and beautiful. Unlike the Black-crowned Night Herons in Florida that I found easy to approach I have noticed that this species in Utah is far more difficult to get close to so I am always pleased when one poses within range as this one did.

Male American Kestrel - Antelope Island State Park, UT
Male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) - Antelope Island State Park, UT
Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

I was a bit further away from this male American Kestrel on the Antelope Island causeway than I would have liked to have been when I photographed it but I loved the setting, the pose of the falcon, the soft light and the frosted vegetation. I also enjoy having my subjects “small in the frame” at times and believe they can be compelling and appealing images. Besides; I adore American Kestrels and will photograph them at every opportunity!

Long-tailed Weasel in summer coat - Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT
Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) in summer coat – Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT
Nikon D200, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 200mm, natural light, not baited

There is a story behind this Long-tailed Weasel photo that I will do a post on another time but I wanted to share this one file for now. This Long-tailed Weasel is in its summer coat, in the winter the coat becomes all white with the exception of a black tipped tail. I’m still hoping to get images of them in the winter because they are especially beautiful then. They may be beautiful but Long-tailed Weasels have a reputation for being ferocious and they will even kill and cannibalize their own species. I would not want to mess with these weasels!

Have a terrific Friday!

Mia

More Pronghorn images
More Black-crowned Night Heron images
More American Kestrel images

Black-crowned Night Heron portrait

By Mia McPherson, on November 16th, 2010%

Black-crowned Night Heron portrait

Black-crowned Night Heron portrait
St. Petersburg, Florida
D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/320, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited

Since I moved to Utah I have never been able to get as close to Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) like I was able to approach this bird in Florida. We have them here, I’ve photographed them but because they are not as habituated to people in Utah they are far more difficult to approach without flushing the herons.

This Black-crowned Night Heron was roosting on a mangrove branch in a small rookery near a seabird sanctuary on the Gulf coast. Because the birds there are used to people I was able to get close enough to this heron to create some nice portraits of it.

Black-crowned Night Herons are common and widespread throughout North America and are usually the most active at night. They feed on fish, crustaceans, mollusks, insects and being opportunistic they also feed on the eggs and chicks of colonial nesting birds. Pretty convenient since they are also colonial nesters.

I find Black-crowned Night Herons to be very photogenic though because of the contrasts between the whites, darks and the beautiful red eye that they can be a challenge to expose properly.

I sure love the great view of this Black-crowned Heron’s eye.

Mia