It’s been at least a few weeks since I last photographed the Great White Egrets that inhabit the Cameron Run area of Alexandria, VA. It was immediately obvious to me this past weekend that the dry summer has affected this tributary of the Potomac River and the water was really low in many places.
I was happy to stumble upon an egret standing out of the water on some rocks. The sky was a brilliant blue and it was reflected beautifully into the water, as was the egret itself. Behind the egret, the water was in the shadows and was a deep shade of green, contrasting nicely with the blue and white of the sky and the clouds. The rocks reflected the light and their highlights were a little blown out, but not outrageously so.
As we move into the fall, I am not sure if the Great Blue Herons and Great White Egrets will remain in the area. I hope that I will have the chance to photographs these wonderful birds later in the year.
Great White Egret in Cameron Run, Alexandria VA
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wonderful shot!
Perfect reflection !
utham
Thanks. I can claim credit for capturing the image, but not for the reflection itself. 🙂
Very nice composition in this photo, Mike.
Thanks, Sue. I shot this from a pretty good distance away, so I had to crop it. I must have played around with a dozen or so different cropping variations before I settled on the final one. It’s an interesting creative dilemma when you can’t frame the image in the camera the way you want to and have to adjust after the fact.
I also like the division of ground and sky reflections. Nice to see the egret. We don’t have enough of them around here.
I’m fortunate to have them present in this stream just a few miles from where I live. It’s a challenge, though,for me to get a decent shot of an egret because of how white they are (the highlights blow out much of the time).