I was so close to this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge that there was no way I could fit its entire body into a shot. I decided to zoom in on its head and captured this little portrait of the heron as it walked slowly through the water. Ever vigilant, the heron kept its eyes focused on the water, looking for signs of potential prey, and ignored me, though I am sure that it was aware of my presence.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice Mike! Great portrait!
That’s a great photo, Mike. I love seeing herons. I’ve been close, but never that close.
Thanks, Dan. I have been within a few feet of a heron before, but was not quite that close this time. I had my long telephoto lens on my camera and it has a minimum focusing distance of almost 9 feet so I can’t get super close to a subject. I estimate that I was about 15 feet away or so when I took this shot.
Beautiful creature.
Thanks, Tricia.
Your photos are absolutely beautiful, amazing in so many ways, and inspirational. This photo of the heron is thrilling! Thank you for sharing your works of art.
Thanks, Jannine. I enjoy spending time in nature and love to share my experiences and photos with others.
Yep. They never miss a human
! Love it 😍
Thanks, Molly. I can never tell how herons will react. Sometimes they seem really skittish and will fly away long before I get near and at other times they will essentially ignore me.
I love the way the colours work in this composition. The background blue on the left leads the eye to the heron’s bill since that same blue appears there and then the sinuous pale curves through the image and the flash of white on the “cheek” really draws attention to the eye.
Thanks, Laura, for your poetic description of what you like about the image. The composition is a relatively simple one, but it has all kinds of wonderful elements that make it “work.”
Taking advantage of a situation 😃😃. Good crisp image 👏👏.
Thanks, Ted. It reminds me a bit of some of your alligator shots when you suddenly have found yourself almost on top of a hidden alligator. 🙂
LOL, always an adventure.
Thanks, Ted. I often describe myself as an opportunistic shooter–I like to walk around a lot and am in reactive mode most of the time. Only rarely am I willing to stay in one place and wait for action to find me.
Wow! A great close up!
Thanks. I did not realize it would turn out so well when I took the shot. I was paying so much attention on trying to keep the heron’s eye in focus that I did not pay as much attention to the background as I should have, but it turned out better than I could have hoped for.
Its fun when things turn out better than we expected! 🙂
So true. I usually refuse to make any judgements about my photos when I am out in the field. The back of the camera has fooled me multiple times. Images that looked good turned out to be blurry when viewed on the computer screen and images that I thought were mediocre turned out to be spectacular. 🙂
What a marvelous close up. How very neat to be there for that moment. Thanks
Thanks, John. I try to be stealthy when photographing wildlife, but I think that most of the time my success in getting shots is tied more to a subject’s tolerance than my skill in stealth.
Beautiful capture, Mike, those rustic red reflections in the water are a nice touch.