{"id":50886,"date":"2018-02-05T05:56:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T12:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50886"},"modified":"2025-05-09T11:13:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:13:52","slug":"great-blue-heron-with-an-eye-on-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/05\/great-blue-heron-with-an-eye-on-the-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron With an Eye on the Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CalmCalm Great Blue Heron with an eye on the sky – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a headache all day yesterday and didn’t do much of anything because of it so I rested a lot, the headache was brought on by a weather front moving in and this morning it seems to be all gone but I didn’t feel like working up a new image(s) to post today so I went digging back into my archives to find something of interest.<\/p>\n

The date was March 6, 2009, I was out looking for birds at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 in Pinellas County, Florida where I came across a very cooperative Great Blue Heron resting on a small sand dune. I dropped down to the sand and moved towards the bird on my knees at a snail’s pace until I was close enough to photograph the whole body of the heron at 80mm or take portraits of the bird zoomed in to 400mm. I took a boatload of photos of this heron that day because the bird was so obliging, it hardly even glanced at me during the time I spent with it. I don’t know what caught the attention of the heron to cause it to look towards the sky because I didn’t bother to look up, I just kept photographing the bird.<\/p>\n

I recall being the only photographer on that section of the north beach that day so it was quiet except for the almost hypnotic sound of the waves lapping against the shoreline and the calls of the other birds on the beach.<\/p>\n

My entire focus was on the calm Great Blue Heron in front of me and I felt as relaxed as the heron appeared to be that morning. Wouldn’t it be marvelous if every day could feel that way.<\/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":"

My entire focus was on the calm Great Blue Heron in front of me and I felt as relaxed as the heron appeared to be that morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143857,"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":[4117,2061,4142,5132,3987,627,626,3986,4046,4018,313],"class_list":["post-50886","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-calm","tag-close-up","tag-coastal","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-north-beach","tag-portrait","tag-sky","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8100.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-deK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96299,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/15\/great-blue-heron-belt-of-venus-and-earth-shadow-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":50886,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron, Belt of Venus and Earth Shadow Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteen years ago this morning I photographed a Great Blue Heron, Belt of Venus and the Earth Shadow on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park on the west coast of Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron walking in front of the Belt of Venus and Earth Shadow, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/great-blue-heron-belt-of-venus-mia-mcpherson-6470.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/great-blue-heron-belt-of-venus-mia-mcpherson-6470.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/great-blue-heron-belt-of-venus-mia-mcpherson-6470.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/great-blue-heron-belt-of-venus-mia-mcpherson-6470.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":340,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/20\/some-days-are-magic\/","url_meta":{"origin":50886,"position":1},"title":"Some Days Are Magic","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Each time I look at one of the images of this Little Blue Heron I have to smile and relish that amazing morning. 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