In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.
I spotted this Black-crowned Night Heron that was almost hidden by the vegetation but as soon as we stopped it darted towards some open water in foraging mode.
I was digging through my image files yesterday and came across a series of Tricolored Heron images that I had never edited from a May morning in 2009 when I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto's north beach.
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah
I actually like the backgrounds in each of these images, all of them show the habitat that Tricolored Herons might be found in and highlight the birds too.
Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.
Great Blue Herons are year round residents in both Florida and Utah although conditions during the winter months can be starkly different for these large wading birds in the two locations and climates.
I don't know how much snow fell over night here in the Salt Lake Valley because it is still dark outside and while I am truly not "blue" about it I thought some images from warmer times of a blue bird might be in order for a Monday.
The adult Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons aren't terribly difficult to tell apart though the juveniles can be more of a challenge.
A wonderful fun-filled day with great companionship and plenty of birds. I can't ask for more.
I spotted this Great Blue Heron yesterday at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and loved the setting with the fresh snow blanketing the steep creek bank.
I've mentioned before that Great Blue Herons stay in the Salt Lake Valley over winter even though the temperatures get very cold and so do some of the Black-crowned Night Herons.
These two "Great" images were taken two minutes apart of two different "Great" wading birds in Florida.
Christmas Day of 2012 turned out to be as beautiful as I hoped at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge because of bright skies, snow on the ground, birds and the expansive views.
This image has always cracked me up, I wonder if the Great Blue Heron even realized its toenails were dragging in the water.
While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.
It seems I have always had a fondness for Great Blue Herons although I don't recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long distant past.
I photographed this Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) a few years ago when I still lived in Florida.
Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.
This Great Blue Heron got up close and personal with me a few years ago in Florida, it largely ignored my presence altogether as it stalked prey on shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
I spent yesterday morning photographing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah. Black-crowned Night Herons seemed to be everywhere on the south side of the auto tour loop, both adults and hatch year birds.
I was able to take a nice series of images of the Black-crowned Night Heron lift off and when the heron was in flight as it flew past me
Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.
The sun had not yet crested the eastern horizon when I photographed this Great Blue Heron as it hunted in the shallow waters on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.
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!
Another one of the reasons I enjoy this photo is that the eye of the Great Blue Heron has a colored catchlight that is from the sun glowing yellow on the eastern horizon.
Little Blue Herons were a wading bird that I saw often in Florida. The day I photographed this Little Blue Heron I was sitting quietly in the shallow water of a lagoon when this bird flew in and began to hunt.
The Great Blue Heron images from the series I created that blustery November morning on Fort De Soto's north beach are still favorites of mine and likely always will be.
Yesterday the monsoons came up from the south which meant lots of rain on moisture laden winds.
This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately.