Great Blue Heron with long occipital plumes – Nikon D500, f8, 1/8000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Two days ago on my immature Double-crested Cormorant post I mentioned that prior to photographing the cormorant that I had been taking images of a Great Blue Heron, these two photos are of that heron.
I saw the Great Blue Heron flying towards the shoreline of the pond and I was tracking it with my lens, when the bird appeared to be getting ready to land I started taking photos of it but as I took those photos I knew that I was going to be disappointed with the resulting files. Why? Because I could tell that some out of focus vegetation on my side of the pond between my lens and the heron was going to obscure a clean and clear view of the heron as it flared it wings to land and I was right. When I viewed the images on my camera’s LCD screen I could tell that the vegetation had ruined having an unobstructed view of this large wading bird as it landed. Those images will get dumped into my delete bin but happily I did take photos of the Great Blue as it moved along the shoreline of the pond that I like and find visually appealing.
Because the Great Blue Heron was a distance away using f8 as my aperture was sufficient for getting not only the bird sharply in focus it also had the snow-covered pond bank in sharp focus too. I love how this photo clearly shows the long, black occipital plumes of the heron, as these herons get closer to breeding season those plumes lengthen.
Winter Great Blue Heron walking the shoreline – Nikon D500, f8, 1/6400, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I can also just make out a bit of blue coloration in the lores of the heron in both of these photos and that also indicates that breeding season for this heron isn’t all that far away. I’ve wondered often this winter if this heron has a mate and if it does where they would nest. Of all the times I have gone down to my local pond I can only recall simultaneously seeing two herons in the vicinity once and that was earlier this winter. I wonder if the herons nest in the tall trees that line the Jordan River. Perhaps I should take a nice walk on the river trail to look around when it warms up some and isn’t blowing a gale like it is this morning!
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species. This image was taken in Salt Lake County.
By the way, my shutter speed was fairly high for both of these basically static photos however in my mind it doesn’t matter a bit that my shutter speed was high because I got the quality shots I wanted, having my shutter speed too slow could be and often is more of an issue.
Perfect. Beautiful image of a stately and magnificent bird. I also love your composition; the color contrasts are terrific. Thanks Mia.
Love both but especially the second…great composition!!!
Love this shot and this bird. I also like that patch of peach on the shoulder. Hope to see one this spring, although it will be a late spring, judging from what we have now.I know photographers joke about a person commenting “you must have a nice camera,” but I am envious of those high shutter speeds and wide apertures
Spectacular. As always, many thanks.
Beautiful and stately birds! Thanks for pointing out that bit of blue in its lores. I had never noticed that and will be looking closely at the next one I meet!
Such a cool bird! Bummer about the landing shots — those would have been fun to see. I’m always blown away by the grace of such a large bird.