I had zoomed all the way in on this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), when suddenly he took a big stride, a stride that almost took him out of the frame.
Something must have caught his attention, because he started moving quickly after having been still for quite some time. Normally when a blue heron moves, he is striking, reaching down to pull (or spear) some hapless prey out of the water. His lateral movement caught me a little by surprise.
One of the challenges of taking photos of wildlife is to be ready for the unexpected. I’m learning that the more I study subjects like this blue heron, the more I can anticipate some of their action. It’s a whole lot easier to be ready for the expected than for the unexpected.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
There used to be a great blue heron that fished a falls on a river behind an art supply store near here. The employees named him Art and a couple times when I parked to try and get photos of him Art walked right up to my truck and looked in the passenger side window. I have a feeling that someone must have been feeding him. Anyhow, that was unexpected and I wasn’t prepared for it either time. In fact, I froze, not sure what Art wanted and not wanting to scare him away.
Nice shot mike. Isn’t huntley Meadows the best? I have not been down there for a while but am planning to get there soon. It is a real jewel for wildlife in the area. Do you take pictures at Mason Neck too?
I haven’t made it down to Mason Neck yet, but hear that it is a wonderful place to photograph birds.
Walk like a heron!
I was thinking Strut by Sheena Easton..;-)
Great shot..
I was thinking more of Aerosmith and “Walk This Way,” but I suspect that there are a lot more song titles that would work as a caption for this shot.