I thought that the Great Egrets (Ardea alba) had already left our area, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this one on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The egret was perched on the ruins of a duck blind sticking out of the water and spent most of the time that I observed it preening and simply surveying the surroundings.
As I moved about trying to compose the shot, I was fortunate to be able to get an angle in which the colors of the autumn foliage were visible in the background. The autumn colors in my area are somewhat muted, but beautiful nonetheless.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very nice, the composition worked well 😀
The soft focus on the natural background shows nature’s unique ability to blend color. People work very hard to blend muted tones in background images, but nothing compares to the real deal.
Love this capture, Mike.
maybe those are egrets and not herons
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Beautiful portrait. The color harmony is perfect.