{"id":34847,"date":"2016-01-15T06:15:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T13:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34847"},"modified":"2025-09-20T16:51:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T21:51:35","slug":"little-blue-herons-on-the-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/15\/little-blue-herons-on-the-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Blue Herons On The Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Little Little Blue Heron searching for prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been feeling a bit blue because of gray skies and the rotten situation at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge so I thought I would post some blue birds, Little Blue Herons.<\/p>\n

These Little Blue Herons on the hunt were both taken at Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a> in two different tidal lagoons.<\/p>\n

This first image was taken in the tidal lagoon near the concession stand at the north beach in bright light while I laid on my belly in the sand right next to the edge of the shoreline.<\/p>\n

After this image was taken the Little Blue caught a pipefish<\/span><\/a> and devoured it. I shared the morning photographing with two friends and we all had a great time.<\/p>\n

\"LittleLittle Blue Heron stalking prey in a dark lagoon – Nikon D200, handheld, f4.8, 1\/250, ISO 400, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 86mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This image of a Little Blue Heron<\/span><\/a> stalking prey was also taken at Fort De Soto but in a different lagoon that had mangroves on the edge of it which reflected on the water.<\/p>\n

For this image I was sitting still in the lagoon photographing birds as they came close to me and this Little Blue Heron came so close to me that I could barely fit it in the frame.<\/p>\n

Because I sat so still I don’t think the heron saw me as a threat at all but it took a great deal of patience and sitting still in the lagoon for a long time to get this photo.<\/p>\n

I like both of these images because of the hunting poses of the herons but also because of the different water colors.<\/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":"

These Little Blue Herons on the hunt were both taken at Fort De Soto in two different tidal lagoons. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,81,2000],"tags":[4004,970,14752,85,4620,173,627,626,3970,3997,84,4246,4106,6620,4118,313,373],"class_list":["post-34847","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-adult","tag-autumn","tag-coastal-island","tag-egretta-caerulea","tag-fall","tag-gulf-coast","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-hunting","tag-lagoon","tag-little-blue-heron","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-prey","tag-searching","tag-stalking","tag-wading-birds","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/little-blue-heron-hunting-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-5709.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-943","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16024,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/02\/tricolored-heron-hunting-the-gulf-of-mexicos-shoreline\/","url_meta":{"origin":34847,"position":0},"title":"Tricolored Heron Hunting The Gulf Of Mexico’s Shoreline","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons and larger than Snowy Egrets and all three of these wading birds hunt in many of the same locations along the Gulf Coast.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tricolored Heron hunting the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s shoreline, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tricolored-heron-foraging-mia-mcpherson-2893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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