{"id":340,"date":"2010-08-20T07:49:13","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T13:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=340"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T19:08:03","slug":"some-days-are-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/20\/some-days-are-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Days Are Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LittleLittle Blue Heron misses the prey –\u00a0 <\/strong>D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 200, 80-400mm VR at 360mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There are days when everything seems to go right. The light. The action. The habitat. The company you are with. The birds! Those days are magic.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u00a0met up\u00a0with a fellow photographer; Bill Leggett,\u00a0whom I had\u00a0conversed with\u00a0on NaturePhotographers.net<\/a><\/span> (NPN). \u00a0Bill had asked me about the birds of about Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a> so I agreed to meet him there and guide him around on his first visit to the park.\u00a0\u00a0Joining us was Adrian Burke, a dear friend of mine who is also a bird photographer.<\/p>\n

We all met at the East Beach turnaround since Bill has said he also liked to take landscape photos. Sunrise at east beach can be delightful. Often there are wonderful cloud formations when the sun starts to rise over the water and in the distance you can clearly see the Skyway Bridge (aka Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge). Many mornings the egrets, herons, shorebirds and gulls are there feeding in the morning light.<\/p>\n

Bill, Adrian and I drove up to the north beach of Fort De Soto and began to photograph the birds in earnest. We were very fortunate to find the Little Blue Heron above actively feeding in the tidal lagoon near the concession stand.<\/p>\n

The water was fairly calm, the heron was stalking prey, the sky overhead was a glorious blue and we all threw ourselves into capturing this lovely bird with our cameras.<\/p>\n

Well, I threw myself\u00a0belly first into the tidal mud at Bill’s request, he wanted to see how I got “down & dirty” <\/em>\u00a0to get my low angle shots. The truth is that\u00a0I would have done it even without Bill’s request!<\/p>\n

\"LittleLittle Blue Heron with Pipefish in mid air – D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light.<\/span><\/p>\n

To our luck the Little Blue Heron found and caught a Pipefish in the lagoon and had a challenging time with it.\u00a0 The pipefish apparently didn’t want to be the heron’s breakfast so it wiggled, twirled, and slipped out of the bill of the heron several times. It was great fun to see the action and to be able to photograph it too.<\/p>\n

Pipefish are related to seahorses and both are unique.\u00a0\u00a0The males have a brood pouch where the females deposit the eggs, the male then fertilizes them and carries the young until they are ready to be expelled into the water.<\/p>\n

\"LittleLittle Blue Heron with Pipefish in bill – D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The light was great. We were able to get a smooth gradient style background in some of our images because across the lagoon is a sandy spit of sand that separates the lagoon from the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 All of this worked in our favor.<\/p>\n

\"LittleLittle Blue Heron and reflection\u00a0<\/strong>– D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

We took\u00a0loads of \u00a0images that day, we walked miles on the sandy beach, saw many different species of birds while sharing knowledge, techniques and fun. Bill and Adrian are great shooting partners. Each time I look at one of the images of this Little Blue Heron I have to smile and relish that amazing morning.<\/p>\n

Yes… some day are magic<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 I treasure each one.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Each time I look at one of the images of this Little Blue Heron I have to smile and relish that amazing morning. Yes… some day are magic. I treasure each one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,81,2000],"tags":[85,4040,626,3970,3997,84,3986,3998,62,4161,313,3996],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-little-blue-herons","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-egretta-caerulea","tag-feeding","tag-herons","tag-hunting","tag-lagoon","tag-little-blue-heron","tag-north-beach","tag-pipefish","tag-skyway-bridge","tag-tidal-pool","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-florida-fort-desoto-mia-mcpherson-5673.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5u","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":117958,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/08\/great-blue-heron-photos-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron Photos In Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If you want to take Great Blue Heron photos in winter, on snow and ice, then head to Bear River MBR in Utah after the marsh freezes and the snow starts to fall.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffed up Great Blue Heron walking on ice, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/great-blue-heron-winter-ice-mia-mcpherson-3169.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110536,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/26\/golden-hour-urban-great-blue-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":1},"title":"Golden Hour: Urban Great Blue Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I photographed at a local park I found a Great Blue Heron resting in the water at the edge of a pond in the golden light found just after dawn.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Great Blue Heron in golden light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-local-pond-mia-mcpherson-4255.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":141865,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/21\/great-blue-heron-at-arkansas-river-valley-nature-center\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Heron At Arkansas River Valley Nature Center","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Great Blue Heron in low light last week at the Arkansas River Valley Nature Center. The heron and its reflection caught my eye.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron at Wells Lake, Arkansas River Valley Nature Center, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-wells-lake-mia-mcpherson-7862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-wells-lake-mia-mcpherson-7862.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-wells-lake-mia-mcpherson-7862.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/great-blue-heron-wells-lake-mia-mcpherson-7862.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110398,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/20\/great-blue-heron-on-ice-small-in-frame\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":3},"title":"Great Blue Heron On Ice – Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had the opportunity to photograph a Great Blue Heron on the ice at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, where the heron was small in the frame.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and its winter shadow - 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