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Posts Tagged ‘Ardea herodias’

Heron in the shade

Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, tagged , , , , , on November 18, 2012| 10 Comments »

Late this afternoon, I was at a nearby suburban pond and noticed a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) on the opposite bank. He was in a shaded area, where the water was calm and the reflections were beautiful. I was a bit too far away for a close-up shot, but couldn’t get any closer because of the bushes and underbrush that kept me from the water’s edge. Nevertheless, I was able to get some images that I like, including this one. I decided not to crop too closely to the heron in order to retain some of the bushes and their reflections that add a lot to the photo.

Heron in the shade (click for higher resolution)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Heron and goose interactions

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 17, 2012| 7 Comments »

It is always interesting for me to see two species interact—you never quite know what will happen. Last Sunday, I was in the bushes in a local suburban pond area, pretty close to a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). He seemed to be willing to tolerate my presence, though there were a lot of bushes that kept me from getting a clear shot. I photographed several encounters between the heron and Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) that live semi-permanently at the pond.

I took the first photo just after the heron made a threatening gesture with his beak at a goose that must have invade his personal space. The goose appears to have gotten the message and looks to be exiting the area. At the time of the shot, the sun was bright and was reflecting off the water, somehow turning it almost turquoise in color. The branches of the bush get in the way a little, but don’t detract too much from the charm of the photo. The whole effect is to make the image look almost as much like an illustration as a photograph.

“I need my personal space.”

The second photo is much less action oriented and is a study in contrasts. The goose seems to be looking at the heron with wonderment and curiosity, while the heron seems to be cool and disinterested. The background reminds me a little of a psychedelic image from the 1960’s.

“How did you grow to be so tall?”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fall reflection of a heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 12, 2012| 4 Comments »

Yesterday afternoon, I took some photos of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in the little pond in my suburban neighborhood. He seemed amazing mellow and content to relax in the shade. Consequently, he was pretty tolerant of my presence and that of the nearby Canada Geese. Here’s a sneak preview of the shoot, an image that captures the heron with the reflections of the remaining fall foliage.

Fall reflection of a Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Great Blue Heron in the fall

Posted in Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2012| 6 Comments »

The water level in the area of the marsh where I photographed herons and egrets earlier this summer is so low that it is now just a big puddle. Therefore, I was surprised early one morning this past weekend to see a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) wading in the water. The light was not very bright, but the surface of the water had a really beautiful reflection of the orange of the fall foliage. The heron was a pretty good distance away and I was on a boardwalk, so my options were limited for framing my shots. Here are a couple of my favorite shots of the heron, surrounded by the reflection of the fall colors.

Great Blue Heron in the fall at Huntley Meadows Park

Fall reflection of a Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early morning heron silhouette

Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

It was early in the morning and I was walking almost directly east along a stream. The sun had already risen and was in my eyes, but I spotted a Great Blue Heron in the water. I was able to get a shot that I knew would turn out as a silhouette, but the heron was standing in such a way that I was pretty confident that his silhouette would be immediately recognizable. The glare caused the color to wash out almost entirely and there are all kinds of artifacts from the light, but I like the overall effect.

Great Blue Heron Silhouette

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Focused blue heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

This is another shot of the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) who was so cooperative today in permitting me to get close to him. In this shot, his eyes are fixed intently on the water, which unfortunately was covered with some combination of algae and duckweed. There was virtually no way for him to spot any potential prey below the surface of the water. His body seems coiled, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. He remained in this position for quite some time, but eventually he relaxed and gave up the hunt. Later, he moved to the other small pond and was equally unsuccessful there.

Focused blue heron (click for a higher resolution view)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cooperative blue heron

Posted in Birds, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 5 Comments »

I was lucky today. Normally when I have tried to photograph Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), I have had to do so at the maximum range of my telephoto zoom lens and even then would have to crop the image significantly. The result has been that my photos have not been as sharp or detailed as I would have liked.

Today was different. I was walking around the little ponds at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historical park where I had previously taken photos of a green heron, when I startled a Great Blue Heron who had been perched in a tree. He flew off high into a tree across the pond and remained there as I followed him and tried to take some photos. I have not yet looked at those photos, but suspect that they are a little distorted, given that I was shooting almost straight up.

It started to drizzle a bit. When all of the other visitors left, the heron flew down from the tree and landed no more than 30 feet from me. He wandered along the water’s edge, periodically entering the water and staring intently at its surface, probably searching for something to eat. I cautiously approached him and he let me get with fifteen feet or so of him and I even circled around him trying to get a decent angle and background for a shot. How close was I? At times I could not use the full range of my 55-250mm lens if I wanted to capture his whole body.

Here is one of my initial favorite shots. I shot it with the lens extended to 194mm with settings of f9.0, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, and an exposure compensation of -.67. Other than a little sharpening and a little cropping, this is the way the image came out of the camera.

Indeed, I was lucky today to encounter an unusually cooperative Great Blue Heron.

Cooperative Great Blue Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fishing with a blue heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

Here is a close-up of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) who has just speared a fish of an unknown type. I was able to watch the whole process from the shoreline of the pond and took some shots.

I note that the photo here is not a super crisp, clear image. It is a crop of a shot that I had to tweak because of some problems getting the exposure right (reflected light off the water and shadows were both problem), but I like the fact that you can see both the heron’s and the fish’s faces.

In a posting on 24 July I showed a green heron swallowing a frog whole. I was not able to see how this blue heron consumed the fish because he carried it into a shaded area along the shoreline.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue heron with open mouth

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2012| 5 Comments »

Here is another shot of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that I photographed 11 August 2012 in Alexandria, Virginia.

At first I couldn’t figure out why he had his mouth open in so many of my pictures. As I went over the photos, however, it looks like he may have had a stick or bone stuck in his mouth. Is that possible? Earlier in the day I watched as he speared and ate a fish and it’s possible he picked up some debris when he caught the fish (my photos of him spearing the fish turned out really dark but I’ll see if I can salvage any to post).

Eventually he did close his mouth.

Click on the image for greater details.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Wading Great Blue Heron

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 12, 2012| 6 Comments »

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) photographed 11 August 2012 in Alexandria, Virginia.

Click on photo for greater details.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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