I watched and waited as the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) watched and waited. When the crucial moment came, we both reacted and were rewarded—the heron got a fish and I got a photo. For a brief moment, each of us was satisfied.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
great photo Mike, what a “catch”
Excellent timing, Mike. I can see why you were satisfied.
I wonder what Linnaeus was up to when he chose herodiasas the species name for this heron. Herodias was the wife of Herod and the mother of Salome, who caused John the Baptist’s head to get chopped off.
Great shot Mike. I always seem to have a hard time getting close enough to get great shots of the Great Blue.
Thanks. I live near an awesome marshland park that has a boardwalk though the marsh that often lets me get pretty close to the wildlife. I took this shot with a 100mm macro lens and didn’t even have to do a lot of cropping. There is a huge amount of luck involved with a shot like this (and a fair amount of patience and persistence).
Excellent shot.. 🙂
Thanks, Ed. I’ve been inspired by your recent zoo shots and may have to make a trip soon to the National Zoo in DC. It has a good assortment of animals and, like many of the museums in DC, entry to it is free.
Have fun, going to the zoos is the closest I’ll ever get to seeing some of these animals in the wild and appreciate each time I visit one. Hope the Pandas are doing more than sleeping when you get there… 🙂
Great picture, those herons can stand around for hours, and will eat pretty much anything!
Superb nature shot – just what viewers want – the animal inaction
It looks like that heron has some kind of band around it’s neck. I’ve heard of banding a bird’s leg, but never its neck. It seems like it would be a bit restrictive when he was trying to swallow a fish.
I think that the “band” is actually some of the long head feathers that were out of place. i do agree, though, that a neck band would not work, especially for birds like this that swallow some really big prey.
Now that takes a lot of patience! Congratulations on a great shot.
Experience has shown that herons, including Great Blue Herons and Green Herons, are good spear fishers. I wonder whether they spear their prey on purpose or by accident … food for thought (pun intended).