{"id":56124,"date":"2019-02-14T06:08:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T13:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56124"},"modified":"2025-08-20T05:58:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:58:40","slug":"winter-great-blue-heron-photographed-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/14\/winter-great-blue-heron-photographed-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Great Blue Heron Photographed Close To Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron with long occipital plumes – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/8000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago on my immature Double-crested Cormorant<\/span><\/a> post I mentioned that prior to photographing the cormorant that I had been taking images of a Great Blue Heron, these two photos are of that heron.<\/p>\n

I saw the Great Blue Heron flying towards the shoreline of the pond and I was tracking it with my lens, when the bird appeared to be getting ready to land I started taking photos of it but as I took those photos I knew that I was going to be disappointed with the resulting files.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because I could tell that some out of focus vegetation on my side of the pond between my lens and the heron was going to obscure a clean and clear view of the heron as it flared it wings to land and I was right.<\/p>\n

When I viewed the images on my camera’s LCD screen I could tell that the vegetation had ruined having an unobstructed view of this large wading bird as it landed.<\/p>\n

Those images will get dumped into my delete bin but happily I did take photos of the Great Blue as it moved along the shoreline of the pond that I like and find visually appealing.<\/p>\n

Because the Great Blue Heron was a distance away using f8 as my aperture was sufficient for getting not only the bird sharply in focus it also had the snow-covered pond bank in sharp focus too.<\/p>\n

I love how this photo clearly shows the long, black occipital plumes of the heron, as these herons get closer to breeding season those plumes lengthen.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter Great Blue Heron walking the shoreline – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/6400, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I can also just make out a bit of blue coloration in the lores of the heron in both of these photos and that also indicates that breeding season for this heron isn’t all that far away.<\/p>\n

I’ve wondered often this winter if this heron has a mate and if it does where they would nest. Of all the times I have gone down to my local pond I can only recall simultaneously seeing two herons in the vicinity once and that was earlier this winter.<\/p>\n

I wonder if the herons nest in the tall trees that line the Jordan River. Perhaps I should take a nice walk on the river trail to look around when it warms up some and isn’t blowing a gale like it is this morning!<\/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. This image was taken in Salt Lake County<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the way, my shutter speed was fairly high for both of these basically static photos however in my mind it doesn’t matter a bit that my shutter speed was high because I got the quality shots I wanted, having my shutter speed too slow could be and often is more of an issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago on my immature Double-crested Cormorant post I mentioned that prior to photographing the cormorant that I had been taking images of a Great Blue Heron, these two photos are of that heron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,166,709,26],"tags":[4004,4117,6963,3987,627,626,1714,1984,4188,4050,8018,313,3996,16369,373],"class_list":["post-56124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-blue-herons","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-developing","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-occipital-plumes","tag-pond","tag-shoreline","tag-snow","tag-urban","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-willow-pond-park","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-snow-and-water-mia-mpcherson-1623.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eBe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56042,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/12\/landing-immature-double-crested-cormorant-seeking-safety\/","url_meta":{"origin":56124,"position":0},"title":"Landing Immature Double-crested Cormorant Seeking Safety","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Double-crested Cormorant landing on a pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-immature-landing-mia-mcpherson-1651.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-immature-landing-mia-mcpherson-1651.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Heron at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8145.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59380,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/07\/resting-great-blue-heron-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":56124,"position":2},"title":"Resting Great Blue Heron In Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Great Blue Heron had flown in and landed near the shoreline on the other side of the pond where the bank was covered with snow and the heron rested there for a bit.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in winter, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-snow-mia-mcpherson-1673.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-snow-mia-mcpherson-1673.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-snow-mia-mcpherson-1673.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"June 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When a bird photography trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge starts with me spotting not just one but two Snowy Plovers out on the flats I just know the day is off to a great start and that is what happened yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "American Avocets"","block_context":{"text":"American Avocets","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-avocets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-crowned Night Heron adult hunting in the marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5630.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5630.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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