{"id":61038,"date":"2019-10-27T06:47:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T12:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61038"},"modified":"2024-11-09T03:50:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T09:50:54","slug":"photographing-the-earths-shadow-with-a-great-blue-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/27\/photographing-the-earths-shadow-with-a-great-blue-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing The Earth’s Shadow With A Great Blue Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning is cold and the radar\/satellite shows that it is snowing and cloudy outside. I can’t see any snow on the ground because it is still pitch dark as I write this but if there is snow it is probably just a skiff of the white stuff.<\/p>\n

\"EarthEarth Shadow with a Great Blue Heron – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/100, ISO 1000, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 122mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The clouds overhead will likely keep me from going out into the field today but who knows, if it does start snowing hard I may have to jump into my Jeep and head down to the local pond to see if I can photograph birds in falling snow.<\/p>\n

Where I was and what I was doing eleven years ago this morning is a completely different story. At the time I was living on the west coast of Florida and the temps were warm enough that I was in the water of the Gulf of Mexico or belly crawling through warm, sugar sand to photograph birds on the shore.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> before dawn and headed out towards the Gulf to look for birds and to my delight I soon realized that I had the beach to myself. I wandered north while listening to the birds that were calling, the quiet sound of the water lapping against the sandy shore while enjoying the sea breeze.<\/p>\n

When I reached the north tip of the beach I could make out the form of a Great Blue Heron in the pre-dawn light so I dropped down on to my belly and slowly but steadily sand-crawled towards the resting wading bird.<\/p>\n

Because I arrived at twilight that morning and had a clear sky I knew that I could take photos of the Great Blue Heron with the blue colored Earth’s Shadow<\/span><\/a> and pink Belt of Venus<\/span><\/a> behind it.<\/p>\n

Just days before I had taken close up images of another Great Blue Heron with the Earth’s Shadow<\/span><\/a> behind the heron for my first time ever and I was thrilled with those images, they are still some of my favorites images of this species.<\/p>\n

However; eleven years ago today I decided I wanted to take a different approach and create images that showed the heron smaller in the frame with more of the Belt of Venus and Earth’s Shadow in the background so I backed up my zoom to accomplish my goal.<\/p>\n

I believe that my strategy worked out quite well plus I even captured a pinkish glow in the surface of the water.<\/p>\n

I see the Earth’s Shadow and Belt of Venus in Utah but usually as I am heading out into the field first thing in the morning. I haven’t photographed a single bird here with the Earth’s Shadow and Belt of Venus behind it though I think I know just how to accomplish it.<\/p>\n

I know this, I want to try. I just need the right atmospheric conditions, a little ingenuity and a bird.<\/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":"

Because I arrived at twilight that morning and had a clear sky I knew that I could take photos of the Great Blue Heron with the blue colored Earth’s Shadow and pink Belt of Venus behind it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136565,"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":[27,25,704,166,2000],"tags":[4004,4117,7890,4198,7889,3987,173,4077,627,626,3997,8301,8300,4234,7891,3996],"class_list":["post-61038","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-belt-of-venus","tag-earth-shadow","tag-earths-shadow","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-lagoon","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-pre-dawn-light","tag-twilight","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/great-blue-heron-earth-shadow-vibrant-mia-mcpherson-8826.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fSu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6365,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/15\/ive-got-the-blues-great-blue-herons-that-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":61038,"position":0},"title":"I’ve Got The Blues – Great Blue Herons That Is!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems I have always had a fondness for Great Blue Herons although I don't recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron portrait - Warm morning light, 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-6455.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-6455.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-6455.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I had some fun photographing a Great Blue Heron on ice along with its shadow yesterday morning on a pond at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yawning Great Blue Heron on ice, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/great-blue-heron-and-shadow-on-ice-mia-mcpherson-6888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The sun had not yet crested the eastern horizon when I photographed this Great Blue Heron as it hunted in the shallow waters on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in pre-dawn light, 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-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.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-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/great-blue-heron-pre-dawn-mia-mcpherson-4050.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115878,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/15\/late-summer-great-blue-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":61038,"position":5},"title":"Late Summer Great Blue Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this late summer, adult Great Blue Heron resting on a human-made nest box at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area a few days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Late summer Great Blue Heron at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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