{"id":128090,"date":"2024-04-29T02:51:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T07:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=128090"},"modified":"2024-07-28T16:59:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T21:59:52","slug":"birdscape-great-blue-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/29\/birdscape-great-blue-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Birdscape: Great Blue Heron at Sequoyah NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For me, I feel peaceful when I view this Great Blue Heron photo from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/sequoyah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>. The lush habitat plus the bird makes me feel that way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-127989 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron habitat at Sequoyah NWR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron habitat at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron habitat at Sequoyah NWR \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 2500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While visiting my friend <a href=\"https:\/\/stevecreek.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Steve Creek<\/span><\/a> here in Arkansas, we have made several trips over to Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma to find birds and wildlife to photograph. Steve knows that refuge like he knows the back of his hand. Steve has taught me a lot about his favorite refuge, and I am extremely grateful for the knowledge he has shared.<\/p>\n<p>I forget now what Steve was focused on from his side of his pickup, but when I saw this scene from the other side, I just knew I wanted to focus on it.<\/p>\n<p>Everything in Arkansas and at the refuge in Oklahoma is very green, a green that feels like a balm to my eyes. The trees had leafed out before my arrival, and as I drove across Texas and Oklahoma into Arkansas, I was transfixed by the color green.<\/p>\n<p>Even the air smells green. I&#8217;m not sure how to explain that, but I know the air here smells good, clean, and refreshing. At the refuge, the air has undertones of an earthy scent. It smells terrific to me.<\/p>\n<p>I took other photos of this heron, another one that flew in, and two Great Egrets that morning, but this image of a solitary Great Blue Heron touched me more than all the others. I don&#8217;t know why, and actually, it really doesn&#8217;t matter. It simply <em>does<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/great-blue-heron-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species. Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more photos of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For me, I feel peaceful when I view this Great Blue Heron photo from Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. The lush habitat plus the bird makes me feel that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127989,"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":[27,166,13973,13974],"tags":[4004,4117,13985,13984,3987,627,626,6151,14021,14980,14020,13976,4043,165,4076,313,3996],"class_list":["post-128090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-blue-herons","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-landscape","tag-oklahoma","tag-reflectons","tag-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-slough","tag-small-in-frame","tag-spring","tag-trees","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/great-blue-heron-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-5716.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-xjY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115070,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/09\/great-blue-heron-and-azolla-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron And Azolla at Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A quick post about a Great Blue Heron hunting for breakfast in Azolla at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in June in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron at Sequoyah NWR, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":167261,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/21\/beaver-lodge-canada-geese-and-a-great-blue-heron-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":1},"title":"Beaver Lodge, Canada Geese, And A Great Blue Heron At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month, I stopped at Lower Scarborough Slough to photograph the beaver lodge and surrounding forest, and also got Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron in my photos.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Beavers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Beavers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-beavers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Beaver lodge, Canada Geese, and a Great Blue Heron at Sequoyah NWR","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sequoyah-nwr-great-blue-heron-canada-geese-mia-mcpherson-4471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sequoyah-nwr-great-blue-heron-canada-geese-mia-mcpherson-4471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sequoyah-nwr-great-blue-heron-canada-geese-mia-mcpherson-4471.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sequoyah-nwr-great-blue-heron-canada-geese-mia-mcpherson-4471.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139004,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/28\/january-journey-to-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":2},"title":"January Journey To Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"My journeys to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma are always wonderful, even when I don\u2019t take many photos or the weather isn\u2019t all that great.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Great Blue Herons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Great Blue Herons","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/wading-birds\/great-blue-herons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron hunting in a slough at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/great-blue-heron-slough-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-2075.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131541,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/30\/great-blue-heron-at-sally-jones-lake-small-in-frame\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron at Sally Jones Lake &#8211; Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was walking around Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday, I stopped to photograph a foraging Great Blue Heron at Sally Jones Lake.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron on Sally Jones Lake, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-sally-jones-lake-mia-mcpherson-6732.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/28\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":4},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Until a few days ago, I hadn't photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131073,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/23\/green-heron-images-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":128090,"position":5},"title":"Green Heron Images From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing three Green Heron photos plus a short video that were taken at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma earlier this month.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green Heron about to lift off from a branch, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}