{"id":40210,"date":"2016-06-27T04:52:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T10:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40210"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:22:32","slug":"great-blue-heron-flight-over-north-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/27\/great-blue-heron-flight-over-north-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron Flight Over North Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron in flight with trees in the background – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/500, ISO 640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m still working at moving the last of my bird images from the old galleries to the new gallery format and at this point I have some of the terns, cardinals & allies and wading birds left to move.<\/p>\n

The wading birds will take the longest because there are so many of them but I have completed the Great Blue Herons and a few others.<\/p>\n

While editing other wading bird images I came across this file that I hadn’t ever processed and decided that I should.<\/p>\n

When I first looked at it I felt it was a bit dark compared to the images I had taken of Great Blue Herons in Florida most of which had bright skies, white sand and bright blue water or they were touched with the golden light of dawn.<\/p>\n

This Great Blue Heron was in flight over the north beach of Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a> with dark Australian Pines in the background on a foggy morning.<\/p>\n

I liked the position of the wings and the more I look at it the more I like those dark trees in the background and how well the heron stands out from them.<\/p>\n

The Australian Pines are no longer there, because they were invasive and prevented native plants from growing underneath them they were removed some time ago.<\/p>\n

As much as I enjoyed walking underneath them when I was leaving the north beach I understand why they had to go.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click 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":"

This Great Blue Heron was in flight over the north beach of Fort De Soto with dark Australian Pines in the background on a foggy morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152923,"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":[27,25,704,166,2000],"tags":[4004,4117,5217,4052,4122,3987,627,626,4669,9083,4076,313],"class_list":["post-40210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-great-blue-herons","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-australian-pines","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-invasive","tag-pines","tag-trees","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-flight-dark-mia-mcpherson-3996.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-asy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46872,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/21\/preening-great-blue-heron-in-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","url_meta":{"origin":40210,"position":0},"title":"Preening Great Blue Heron In The Gulf Of Mexico","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo of a preening Great Blue Heron on an old stump in the water of the Gulf of Mexico is far from perfect but I still like it for the behavior that it shows.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening Great Blue Heron on an old stump, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-preening-mia-mcpherson-6233.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-preening-mia-mcpherson-6233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-preening-mia-mcpherson-6233.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-preening-mia-mcpherson-6233.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14742,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/12\/surf-side-sentinel\/","url_meta":{"origin":40210,"position":1},"title":"Great Blue Heron Surf-side Sentinel","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Blue Herons are wading birds that I photographed quite often at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach while I lived in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron as a Surf-side Sentinel, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8069.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-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8069.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8069.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37685,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/31\/great-blue-herons-expelling-bile\/","url_meta":{"origin":40210,"position":2},"title":"Great Blue Herons Expelling Bile? (Graphic)","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I have only seen and photographed these two Great Blue Herons expelling bile in Florida and Utah. I wonder how often this occurs.","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":"Retching Great Blue Heron, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/great-blue-heron-regurgitating-mia-mcpherson-8059.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/great-blue-heron-regurgitating-mia-mcpherson-8059.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/great-blue-heron-regurgitating-mia-mcpherson-8059.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-up-close-mia-mcpherson-8094.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-up-close-mia-mcpherson-8094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-up-close-mia-mcpherson-8094.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-up-close-mia-mcpherson-8094.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47830,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/30\/gray-windy-day-great-blue-heron-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":40210,"position":4},"title":"Gray & Windy Day Great Blue Heron Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This Great Blue Heron wandered past me one December morning at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach on a gray, windy day and because it was close I simply had to take a photo of the large wading bird.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up Great Blue Heron on a gray day, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8008.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-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8008.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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