At least one of us wasn’t paying attention.
I’ve mentioned before the big Cypress Trees that line the edge of this swamp. On more than one occasion walking around a tree brings a surprise.

Here a Great Blue Heron was a few feet in the swamp, me a few feet not in the swamp. This time the bird jumped up, flew a little past me, and dropped down to continue on his hunt.


This time I had a shorter lens and had been shooting closeups anyway.
In the rookery, Magnolia Plantation swamp.
Impressive how quick they can get those big bodies off the ground.
They appear slow, but the wings are so big a few flaps and they are gone.