Why were the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) prancing about on Saturday with their heads tilted upward and their wings displayed? Surely this was some kind of elaborate courting ritual.
As Tina Turner famously sang, “What’s love got to do with it?” Apparently this is how these herons defend their feeding territories. Really? According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, one of my favorite sources of information on birds, “Great Blue Herons defend feeding territories from other herons with dramatic displays in which the birds approach intruders with their head thrown back, wings outstretched, and bill pointing skyward.”
If only we could be so dignified in expressing our differences instead of squawking loudly and aggressively at each other.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very graceful birds. Thank you for sharing
I get like that in the office kitchen when someone tries to cut in front of me for the microwave. Beautiful photos!
How interesting to see them actually move. They all seem to want to be statues here.
Fantastic series, Mike. We don’t often get to see them in these unusual poses.
I was really fortunate to see this behavior, which was new for me. Most of the time the Great Blue Herons are stationary, waiting to strike, and are totally focused on their task.