Great Blue Heron resting in a Canada Goose nest – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Great Blue Herons are year round residents in northern Utah, they survive our harsh, bitter cold winters, breed in the spring, raise their young in the heat of summer and on fall mornings they can be found looking marvelous against the autumn colors of the marshes as the sun warms them up.
Farmington Bay has a few human made goose nests in some of the ponds and this one is the closest and easiest to photograph and even though it is human made I like how rusty it is and the graphic lines of the nest. I have photographed Belted Kingfishers, Forster’s Terns, Canada Geese and Great Blue Herons on this nest. When I’ve photographed Canada Geese on it they were using it as a nest while the kingfishers and terns were using it as a perch to find prey in the pond.
Every time I have photographed a Great Blue Heron in the goose nest they were using it as a place to rest. Two days ago when I found this Great Blue Heron resting in the goose nest I knew I had to photograph it because of the autumn colors in the background. How could I pass the heron and those colors up? More importantly, why would I want to?
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.
Sublime.
Thanks for taking us with you again.
I agree with Patty. So many birds show (and rock) their dinosaur ancestry.
Beautiful bird. How is the hunter ratio at Farimgton Bay? I was thinking of going out but my last trip was a bust due to hunting.
Farmington Bay, sorry I am having trouble with my computer it is on its last leg. It’s key board has a dreadful lag so I double type things I think its missed. Hoping it will last until January but my frustration with it might not.
Interesting post and image Mia. I do like and agree with Patty’s comments below.
Great Blue –great name for a big, blue bird…a prehistoric leftover. The sounds they make take me roght back to the age of dinosaurs. They always look like they shoukd be wearing monocles….very professional looking birds…..
Beautiful photos, Mia.