The angle at which I took this shot makes it look like there was a headless heron haunting Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last week. (As most of you can probably tell a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was showing off its impressive plumage and wingspan this shot.) I think I have been seeing too many Halloween displays at local stores, causing me to see spooky things everywhere.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Love the drama in the photo! Excellent.
Love the detail of its feathers. Beautiful.
😂
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Wow!
Nice Mike! Very Cool image! And it is not even Halloween yet!😊 Like the feather detail also!
The cape feathers are so impressive on these birds 😃
Ha ha! It does have a bit of a Bela Lugosi posture.
I remember as a child wanting to have a cool cape like Bella Lugosi wore.
Capes are fabulous!
🙂
My first thought was the big guy in Disney’s Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia.
I loved Fantasia, though I must confess that I have not seen it in decades. My memories of the movie are of Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, so I had to watch again the sequence Night on Bald Mountain. I am once again mesmerized by the music and the animation. Like many cartoons of my childhood, the sequence now strikes me as being really dark and violent. (I have the same reaction when I watch The Roadrunner cartoons or see The Three Stooges.) I was intrigued that the big guy is called Chernabog, which is a combination of two Russian words, meaning Black God.
Spectacular plumage shot – hard to believe they only weigh 5-6#!
Halloween is coming up so maybe it is the Dreaded Headless Heron coming early for Halloween!😊
My thoughts exactly!
it looks like a statue.
In my experience Great Blue Herons often look like statues. They will stand motionless for extended periods of time and then strike without warning.
I have also watched them walking along the edge of the water where their motion is very hard to detect. Amazing birds.