{"id":115878,"date":"2023-09-15T04:40:50","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T10:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=115878"},"modified":"2023-09-29T03:09:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T09:09:34","slug":"late-summer-great-blue-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/15\/late-summer-great-blue-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Summer Great Blue Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

I photographed this late summer, adult Great Blue Heron resting on a human-made nest box at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area a few days ago.<\/p>\n

\"LateLate summer Great Blue Heron at Farmington Bay WMA \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This heron got me thinking about all the times I’ve captured images of this species over the years in various locations and weather conditions.<\/p>\n

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I’ve photographed Great Blue Herons in Florida, Oklahoma, Virginia, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and beyond. I have photographed them on the Gulf Coast, on the shores of the hypersaline Great Salt Lake, near alpine creeks, rivers, streams, swamps, ponds, fresh and saltwater marshes, sloughs, and wetlands. I’ve even taken photos of them in desert ranchlands and high in the mountains. Plus, I’ve photographed them close to home in urban settings.<\/p>\n

I have taken images of Great Blue Herons in soft morning light, evening light, heavy fog, thick snow, backlit, sidelit, and in 35-knot winds with the Belt of Venus and the Earth Shadow behind them. I’ve photographed them in temperatures well below freezing and in temps over 100\u00b0F.<\/p>\n

My cameras have focused on these herons hunting, fishing, resting, courting, coughing up pellets, eating, displaying, flying, landing, fighting, nesting and more. I’ve photographed both adult and immature Great Blue Herons.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I have been blessed to have Great Blue Herons in my viewfinder thousands upon thousands of times. Despite the fact that Great Blue Herons are abundant and found in many different habitats, I still get excited when I can find and photograph them.<\/p>\n

Great Blue Herons<\/span><\/a> in my viewfinder bring me joy. They get my heart pumping. I suspect that they always will. Every freaking time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I photographed this late summer, adult Great Blue Heron resting on a human-made nest box at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area a few days ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,697,166,26],"tags":[4004,4117,4366,3987,627,626,4094,2279,4156,2315,313,3996,4095],"class_list":["post-115878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-blue-herons","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-cattails","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-marsh","tag-nest-box","tag-resting","tag-summer-3","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/great-blue-heron-late-summer-mia-mcpherson-0460.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-u90","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42654,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/15\/great-blue-heron-resting-in-a-canada-goose-nest-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":115878,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron Resting In A Canada Goose Nest At Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron resting in a Canada Goose nest, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-nest-mia-mcpherson-7185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-nest-mia-mcpherson-7185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Farmington Bay WMA ten days ago one of my birdy subjects was an adult Great Blue Heron in a light fog out on the playa in morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in fog on the playa, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/great-blue-heron-fog-playa-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/great-blue-heron-fog-playa-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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