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Posts Tagged ‘heron fishing’

Great Blue Heron’s modest catch

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2016| 1 Comment »

I awoke this morning thinking I would see snow on the ground again, but it seems to have turned into rain. This photo of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and its modest catch reminds me of how snowy it was a mere two weeks ago in our area.

It’s interesting to me to see how the unusual angle of view and the low perspective make the heron’s bill seem unusually elongated and its long neck appears to be really short. The distorted perspective of the image may cause some viewers to look a second time at the photo to mentally reconfirm that this indeed is a Great Blue Heron.

I think that most photographers would agree that it is a good thing when viewers take a second look at their images or examine them more closely.

Great Blue Heron

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Great Blue Heron Catches a Great Big Fish

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 26, 2012| 7 Comments »

Rain was gently falling as I observed a Great Blue Heron at Huntley Meadows Park, a marshland in Alexandria, VA. I was surprised to see how the open water area had shrunk to just a small pool over the past couple of months, presumably because of the lack of rain.

Nonetheless, there was a heron in the middle of that pool, seemingly intent on catching a fish. I was not at all convinced that there were any fish in such a small body of water, but the heron soon proved me wrong. He extended his neck and made a strike into the water and came up with a fish. As he brought the fish out of the water, he opened his wings widely (as the second photo shows), perhaps to counterbalance the weight of the fish. The heron’s wingspan was definitely impressive. He kept his wings partially extended as he moved the fish around in his mouth (as you can see in the first photo) and then swallowed the fish whole.

My photos are not technically great, but they did capture the moment pretty well.  I am thankful that I once again had the privilege to watch such a beautiful creature in action.

Great Blue Heron positions fish prior to swallowing it

Great Blue Heron opens his wings as he pulls a fish out of the water

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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