{"id":130240,"date":"2024-07-06T03:03:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T08:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=130240"},"modified":"2024-07-05T13:04:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T18:04:21","slug":"great-blue-heron-and-bog-smartweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/06\/great-blue-heron-and-bog-smartweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron And Bog Smartweed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a great session photographing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/05\/young-barred-owl-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">young Barred Owls at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>, I also took some Great Blue Heron photos in a slough nearby.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-130237 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron in Bog Smartweed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron in Bog Smartweed, 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\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron in Bog Smartweed \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 800, -0.7 V, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This Great Blue Heron was foraging for prey in a slough, as I mentioned, and is surrounded by Bog Smartweed.<\/p>\n<p>Bog Smartweed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/200065-Persicaria-setacea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Persicaria setacea<\/em><\/span><\/a>, is commonly found in wet habitats, such as bogs, swamps, and other wetland areas, which is reflected in its common name &#8220;bog smartweed&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>I selected the image above because the smartweed was crossing in front of the bill and neck of this heron and it shows how tiny and delicate the flowers are.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-130233 size-full\" title=\"Great Blue Heron foraging in Bog Smartweed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114.jpg\" alt=\"Great Blue Heron foraging in Bog Smartweed, 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\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9114.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Blue Heron foraging in Bog Smartweed \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 800, -0.7 V, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t see this Great Blue capture anything to eat while I had the heron in my viewfinder but it was fun watching it move through the smartweed.<\/p>\n<p>Great Blue Herons are excellent hunters even when the vegetation is as thick as this Bog Smartweed is at this spot on the refuge. I hope to get closer images of this native plant one day soon.<\/p>\n<p>It was a very busy morning at the refuge. Click to read <a href=\"https:\/\/stevecreek.com\/whitetail-fawns-and-barred-owls-on-the-fourth-of-july\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Steve&#8217;s account about our 4th of July morning spent at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a great session photographing young Barred Owls at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, I also took some photos of a Great Blue Heron in a nearby slough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130237,"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":[27,15294,166,13973,13974],"tags":[4004,4117,6098,7353,15295,13985,13984,4142,6518,3987,627,626,14047,4302,15296,4046,13976,13042,313,5065,4307],"class_list":["post-130240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-bog-smartweed","category-great-blue-herons","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-blooming","tag-blossoms","tag-bog-smartweed","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-close-up","tag-flowering","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-miners-cove","tag-native","tag-persicaria-setacea","tag-portrait","tag-slough","tag-summer","tag-wading-birds","tag-white-wildflowers","tag-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-xSE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":175279,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/04\/26\/great-blue-heron-in-morning-mist\/","url_meta":{"origin":130240,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron In Morning Mist","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was tickled to photograph an adult Great Blue Heron in a morning mist at the Lower Scarborough Slough area of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in morning mist at Lower Scarborough Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/great-blue-heron-morning-mist-mia-mcpherson-5078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/great-blue-heron-morning-mist-mia-mcpherson-5078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/great-blue-heron-morning-mist-mia-mcpherson-5078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/great-blue-heron-morning-mist-mia-mcpherson-5078.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":130240,"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":153304,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/08\/23\/horse-guard-wasp-on-water-smartweed\/","url_meta":{"origin":130240,"position":2},"title":"Horse Guard Wasp On Water Smartweed","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I spotted a Horse Guard Wasp nectaring on Water Smartweed at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, and of course I had to photograph the wasp.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Horse Guard Wasps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Horse Guard Wasps","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/horse-guard-wasps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Horse Guard Wasp nectaring on a Water Smartweed, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/horse-guard-wasp-water-smartweed-mia-mcpherson-7015.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/horse-guard-wasp-water-smartweed-mia-mcpherson-7015.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/horse-guard-wasp-water-smartweed-mia-mcpherson-7015.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/horse-guard-wasp-water-smartweed-mia-mcpherson-7015.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":130240,"position":3},"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":166199,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/27\/christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":130240,"position":4},"title":"Christmas Day Great Blue Heron And Turtle At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner's Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Yes, a turtle in winter!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and turtle on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115070,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/09\/great-blue-heron-and-azolla-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":130240,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130240","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=130240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}