{"id":46872,"date":"2017-05-21T05:24:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T11:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46872"},"modified":"2025-08-19T13:11:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:11:25","slug":"preening-great-blue-heron-in-the-gulf-of-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/21\/preening-great-blue-heron-in-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Preening Great Blue Heron In The Gulf Of Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PreeningPreening Great Blue Heron on an old stump – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I took this image while I was either wading or sitting in the water just off of the shoreline of the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a>. There were some stumps from invasive Australian Pines in the water that the Great Blue Heron perched in the golden light of dawn where for a bit the heron tried to catch bait fish that were near the stump.<\/p>\n

After it gave up on that it began to preen. I was low enough in the warm water of the Gulf that I was actually looking up at the heron while I photographed it.<\/p>\n

Even though I did not have eye contact with this Great Blue Heron when I took this image I like how the heron was comfortable enough in my presence that it basically ignored me and went about the business of being a bird and inspecting its feathers while it preened. I find a bit of humor in this pose too.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I wish that the Great Blue Herons here in Utah were as relaxed around people as they were in Florida but in all honesty I like how wild they are here, it does make them more challenging to photograph.<\/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 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152942,"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":false,"_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":[4117,3987,4077,627,626,4099,4019,5113,313,3996],"class_list":["post-46872","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-ardea-herodias","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-morning-light","tag-preening-2","tag-stump","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-preening-mia-mcpherson-6233.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cc0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23823,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/16\/preening-great-blue-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":46872,"position":0},"title":"Preening Great Blue Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I picked this Great Blue Heron image to post today because when I took the photo it was bright and sunny.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening Great Blue Heron at the edge of a tidal lagoon, 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-8053.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-8053.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-8053.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/13\/great-blue-herons-in-florida-and-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":46872,"position":1},"title":"Great Blue Herons In Florida And Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Blue Herons are year round residents in both Florida and Utah although conditions during the winter months can be starkly different for these large wading birds in the two locations and climates.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Herons nesting at Fort De Soto County Park, 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now!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron and blue sky close up, 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-mia-mcpherson-8077.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-mia-mcpherson-8077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-8077.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-mia-mcpherson-8077.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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