The Great Blue Heron was sitting on a rice field gate. It was just a little past sunrise, light was nice, but still early.
In case he moved I took this first shot. Basic rule is get the first one, then do any setup. In this case it was to wait for more light.
I really thought he was going to stay. Which of course he didn’t.
The bird was kind enough to give the usual bent knee flight warning.
The light wasn’t what I wanted but just enough to get these, with a little morning glow.
Not what I had planned, still this is wildlife photography and very little goes as planned.
Beautiful light!
Thank you. For those images just a little more would have been perfect, the feather details would be clear. But it’s a wild 5 foot bird in a marsh. They don’t really care that much.
Great series of photos during golden hour?
Almost golden hour. I was out there at dawn to shoot sunrise, which was not all that good. This is an isolated marshland so I swapped lens and shot birds and alligators instead. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing the facts and your decision
Wonderful shots Ted!
Another 5 minutes and he would have been glowing in the golden hour sun. Thanks. Any time you photograph a Great Blue is a good day 🙂
Herons are amazing birds, I spent so much time photographing them on Vancouver Island. Great photos !
Troy
Thank you. We too spend a lot of time with them, and love every minute. Please stop by again, I’m looking through 900 images from this afternoon alone…the rookeries are getting busy.
I’m going to be back on the island shortly, plus maybe doing a photo essay on them in the coming week. For some reason I just enjoy watching them, but more than anything they have so many attributes to photograph 🙂
Troy