I didn’t really intend to photograph birds this weekend and had my macro lens on my camera. As I was walking around Hidden Pond Nature Center, however, I came face to face with a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and actually had to back up a little to take this shot.
My macro lens is a 180mm Tamron and can serve pretty well as a telephoto lens in certain circumstances, though normally when I am planning to photograph birds I will use a longer lens. Sometimes you just have to shoot a subject with the lens on your camera at that moment. I had a zoom lens in my camera bag, but suspect that the heron would have flown away before I would have been able to switch lenses.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I really like the way the lens picked up the coppery and blue iridescence in the feathers. So often, the great blues appear only blue and gray, and maybe even a little dull. The variety of colors here is splendid.
Thanks. Great Blue Herons look different lights. I noticed that when reviewing my shots–the coppery iridescence that you noted was not visible when the heron was facing in the opposite direction.