All 3 photographs are the same bird. I followed his path while he weaved by, and around me.

Flying over a dike trail to land in the thick cane.

In the image above a water gate for the marsh can be seen. The Ashley River (lowcountry South Carolina) feeds the marsh here. Probably the same dike used for the rice plantations that were part of this marsh.

To get these photographs I stayed still on a dike trail and followed the heron as he flew past me heading up river, and suddenly changed his mind flying over the dike I was on.

In general, turning and panning the bird as he flew by allowed me to get several different angles.