Even before this pandemic, I liked to avoid people when I was out photowalking in the wild. Ideally my contemplation of nature is a solitary and silent pursuit. Now that I am retired, I have the luxury of avoiding the weekends, the peak times when my favorite spots are sometime overrun by groups of noisy people.
Most of our weather in recent weeks has been either hot and humid or rainy, so I have not gone out as often as I would have liked to do. Last Sunday afternoon, however, the weather was nice and I was really itching to take some pictures. I decided to visit Ben Brenman Park in nearby Alexandria, Virginia to search for dragonflies. This wide-open park has large athletic fields for playing soccer and baseball and also has a small pond where I have found dragonflies in previous years. There were a good number of people there, but it was easy to avoid them because there were no trails to restrict my movements.
As it turned out, I did not find many dragonflies, but I did spot this cool-looking Green Heron (Butorides virescens) at the edge of the pond, perched on some kind of post in the water. My view was blocked by vegetation, but I was able to find a visual tunnel that gave me a mostly unobstructed view of the heron.
I have always loved Green Herons, which always seem to have more personality and a wider range of facial expression that the Great Blue Herons that I see more frequently. When they are hunting, Green Herons tend to stay near the water’s edge, where they blend in with the vegetation, which is why many people have never seen one.
We are still in dragonfly season, but I anticipate that I will be featuring more birds in my blog postings in upcoming months. This time of the year my eyes get a real workout, because I need to be simultaneously scanning low and close for insects and far and high for birds.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That’s a pretty cool photo, Mike.
What an outstanding photo, Mike. Your visual tunnel was expertly found and utilized, and the heron is crystal clear, displaying his incredible beauty. I, too, really like finding a green heron, like finding a beautiful secret.
Thanks, Jet. I played around a little bit with angles, with different parts of the heron being obscured in different shots. The heron was not all that far away, but I think it felt secure with the cover of the vegetation. That was fortunate, because I was shooting with my macro lens, which has a relatively limited reach.
Great photo Mike! I can never get close enough to catch photo of one that lives on our pond! 😂
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Thanks, Mitzy. I was walking on a trail surrounding the pond, so I was lucky to be able to get relatively close to the heron. In the wild, they are pretty skittish and it is tough to get close enough for a shot without spooking them. Still, I find it really cool that you are able to see one at your pond.
They are regular visitors on our pond and all our neighbors ponds as well! 🙂
Great capture Mike! One of my favorite birds to photograph!
Thanks, Reed. I used to see Green Herons a lot when I spent a lot of time at a marshland park, but they are not found in most of the places where I shoot now–the marshland park got too crowded for me.
Great picture and very lucky to find him on a spot like this.
Thanks. I was indeed lucky to find him perched like that and was happy to take advantage of the situation to get a good shot.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in our neck of the MN woods, but I keep hoping to. I really enjoy finding visual tunnels, and that’s a great term for them. Yours adds very well to the drama of this cool shot.
Thanks, Gary. I don’t think that I invented the term “visual tunnel,” but I have found that it describes well what I am trying to go as I bend, twist, crouch, and stretch as I try to find a clear visual path to my subject. In the case of this image, I got enough of the heron in clear focus that I rather like the blurry bits of green that surround him.
Very nice “through the vegetation” image, Mike! The Green Heron is one of my favorites, too, although often too skittish to get a photo of.
Thanks, Ellen. I am sure you have lots of experience too in shooting through the vegetation. Over the years I have had some pretty good luck with Green Herons, especially at one park that has a boardwalk that runs through a marshland. For me it is always touch-and-go with a Green Heron–sometimes they are super skittish, but occasionally they will let me get close enough to get a decent shot.
Oh, yes, and sometimes with success. Boardwalks do serve as a “blind” sometimes and it seems in some places we go the birds do get used to folks walking by on them. Always fun to get that close shot.
Nice one, Mike. These herons always look quite hunched in their pose, don’t they? They look quite similar to our night herons in Australia.
Thanks, Chris. I am so used to seeing the green herons hunched over that it seems really strange to see one with its neck stretched out, like the one in this posting from last year. https://michaelqpowell.com/2019/05/20/the-giraffe-pose/
Nice capture, Mike. They are such beautiful birds.
Do not think I have ever seen the stripes on its face? Maybe ones I’ve seen were hunched down or is there another variety? Little green heron?
You have such a good eye!
I think the markings are somewhat variable and may be dependent on age, though I don’t know that for sure. I have heard a number of folks refer to this species as the “Little Green Heron,” but I think it is just a different name. Probably they are trying to match the style of the “Great Blue Heron.” Green Herons are usually hunched close to the edge of the water. I was luck to catch this one perched at almost eye level on a wooden post.
On further review, the striped neck MIHT indicate a juvenile Green Heron
Thanks, Molly. Juveniles are always a problem for identification, because many of the normal markers that help with adults are not present or are completely different.