I enjoy photographing a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) taking off and getting airborne. It takes a lot of effort for the Great Blue to get airborne so the whole process seemed to take place in slow motion providing me the opportunity to shoot 70 frames. Each frame is entirely different due to the shape of the wings, positions of the head and neck and contortions of the Great Blue's body. This is frame #7.
A Green Heron heard me and took a peek.
It was mid morning as I stood in a salt marsh watching for birds. I heard a splash at the ocean end of the main water channel and a quick look through my camera's telephoto lens showed a small dark blue-gray bird which I had not seen or photographed before standing in the water near a mud flat. It was a 5 minute walk on a path through the woods to get where the bird was and I was hoping the bird wouldn't fly away before I got there. The bird was there on the east side of the channel while I was on the west side. While I was standing there, it flew over to my side of the channel and started a slow walk up the channel looking for small fish. The bird was a Little Blue Heron. There was dense woods between the path I was on and the Little Blue in the water so I had no clear shot of the bird. I followed the Little Blue for 20 minutes as it slowly headed up the channel fishing. By this time I was pretty sure it would continue on and eventually show up at a spot where I would have a clear shot. So I walked up the wooded path passed the Little Blue to the first unobstructed view of the water and waited. It started to rain but I decided to wait for the bird even though I had no rain gear. Eventually the Little Blue came into view and I was able to get great shots of it fishing in the rain. Suddenly, the Little Blue jumped out of the water onto a mud flat, looked in my direction and gave me its best portrait pose which you see in the photo. The concentric rings on the water are raindrops. The Little Blue stood there for a few minutes turning left and right for more great shots. Then it turned around and flew to the other side of the channel, landed on a mud flat and started walking back down the channel toward the ocean end of the salt marsh. I headed home.
Little Blue Heron Juvenile 1st Spring
A Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) juvenile appears to be similiar to an immature Snowy Egret. But during first spring (Apr to Jun), the juvenile's white plumage begins to gradually molt to adult plumage as seen in the photo. A Little Blue Heron adult has a slate blue body. Its head and neck are dark purple.