I’m sure this photo from yesterday morning will quickly become one of my favorite shots of a Great Blue Heron in flight. I actually managed to get a long series of them, some of which I like as well or even better than this one.
1/2000, f/6.3. ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Yesterday morning at Bear River MBR I was waiting mostly for Black-crowned Night Herons to fly in to one of their favorite roosting spots when this Great Blue Heron unexpectedly came skimming over the phragmites.
I love this result with the heron at just about the ideal flight angle to me, the bird well lit against the darker background that includes patches of wispy whitish-gray and especially with ‘his’ wingtips skimming over the attractive phrag plumes at the bottom of the frame. I think those phrags, with their color almost perfectly matching the color of his bill and some of the plumage patches on the heron, pull the bird and the phrags together and anchor the heron in flight exceptionally well.
I was even more pleased when I arrived home and realized I had an entire long series of photos of this bird skimming over the phrags, with some showing him banking at an angle that beautifully lights up all of his dorsal surfaces and even highlights some of his prehistoric-looking traits..
But the rest of my day yesterday was taken up by some of the vagaries of life that take precedent so I didn’t have time or opportunity to process the entire series for today’s post. It isn’t my intention to make this photo a ‘teaser’ but I suppose a case can be made that it’s exactly that. So be it.
I’m sure I’ll be posting the rest of the series soon.
Ron
Note:
Yesterday was a good day for birds at the refuge but one of the highlights of my morning was visiting with bird photographer James Stevens again. I’d only met him once before, about two years ago and that was out in the middle of nowhere in Montana’s Centennial Valley. I was camping alone and my pickup was just about out of gas with me about 40 miles from the nearest gas station. I had 13 gallons of extra gas (weighing almost 100 lbs.) in a container that, with my bad back, I couldn’t lift to the top of the tool box in the back of my pickup so it would gravity feed to my gas tank without seriously injuring my back.
I was in a helluva fix, having gas that I couldn’t use.
But perfect stranger James Stevens came to my rescue and lifted the container for me, saving my bacon and my back. We jawboned for quite a while and I quickly discovered he wasn’t only a good Samaritan, he was an incredibly nice guy. I was delighted to see him again yesterday.
I actually wrote about the incident in a blog post titled “Camping Trip Report – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly” in June two years ago. If you’re interested it’s under the subheading “The Good”.
Hello Ron!
It was great seeing you again and meeting Mia out at Bear River, and so nice to be mentioned in your blog. What a great trip I had to Red Rock Lakes and meeting you out there was a highlight. It was my pleasure to assist you of course as I wouldn’t have been way out there without your recommendation
in the first place! It is an amazing and peaceful place.
I have learned so much from your blog and been inspired to explore in search of images and great experiences. I’m looking forward to running into you again out in the field!
Sincerely.
James Stevens
Wonderful shot Ron. Really beautiful.
Hi Ron,
A magnificent image – one of your best.
Well done.
I’m glad you think so, Gary. Thanks.
A breathtaking photo, Ron. One of your best yet!
Thank you, Sheila.
Beautiful shot Ron!
Charlotte Norton
Thanks, Charlotte.
This is so perfect… it looks like a painting❗️
Hoping you frame this one 😁
Who know, Diana. I just might.
Stunning. I am really looking forward to seeing more.
I remember that good Samaritan story and am so glad that you met up with him again.
Thanks, EC.
Amazing to see one in flight at eye level and with so much color. I usually see them as black high-flying pterodactyls, or statues at the shore.
Yes, they do resemble pterodactyls.
Beautiful shot and magnificent composition. I look forward to the others. I usually just get their backside as they turn away to fly.
Always nice to see a friend when out in the field.
“Always nice to see a friend when out in the field”
Which is why I enjoy running into you ‘out there’ occasionally April.
Great teaser!!! Can’t wait to see more of the series 🙂
It shouldn’t be a long wait, Kathleen.
That is a beautiful photo!
Thanks, Becky.
So beautiful! Thank you!
I’m glad to know you think so, Mary.
Oh, boy, that’s a dazzling photo of one of my favorites. But what i like most about your blog today, Ron, is your story about the good heart of a total stranger. I know it happens a lot, but we seldom see that kind of news.
Thanks for appreciating that part of today’s post, Nina. Steven’s kind act meant a lot to me in that situation. I won’t soon forget it.
This works great on so many levels. I love the way the tops of the phrags harmonize with the heron’s wings.
“I love the way the tops of the phrags harmonize with the heron’s wings”
So do I, Kent. Thank you.
Stunning! Striking! Beautiful shot, Ron. I look forward to seeing others in the series.
Thanks, Becky. It shouldn’t be a very long wait – probably just a few days.
Wow. You’ve outdone yourself here. 🙂
Thanks, Kathy.
My favorite bird to photograph. Real nice light and angle on this one!
Thank you, Bruce.
Best in flight photo of a Great Blue that I have ever seen. If there are more like this please bring them forth.
Both Judy and Arwen used the word stunning. Amen to that.
Yesterday we had a single Green Heron and two very active Caspian Terns. Both not considered rare here, but rarely seen.
Thanks very much, Everett. I’m pretty fond of it myself.
Yes, there are more of them and I will bring them forth.
WOW! That is a stunning capture of the Great Blue over the Phrags….. 🙂 While they “should” be an easy bird to capture with the camera that isn’t always the case! Looking forward to more of that series… 😉
Nice to run into your “savior” again – do you now carry a siphon hose of some sorts? 😉
Judy, I always carry a hose to use as a siphon for that task – have for years. But siphoning doesn’t work unless I get the fuel container high enough so I need to get it on top of the tool box.
Hmmmm Know they have small electric pumps tho don’t know how pricey they are…..
Judy, I have an electric pump I use to pump water from containers in my pickup to the trailer holding tank. But pumping gas with an electric pump on a camping trip seems a little risky, if you know what I mean…
Love Great Blue Herons, graceful ballet in flight. Lots of them on upper Lake Livingston in Texas where I lived for 28 years. On frequent walks around the lake, with nasty short stumps poking everywhere which motor boaters hate but I loved because it kept motor boaters out, I’d watch the solitary Great Blue fly from stump to stump. And even when it’s flying low and streamlined toward a stump already taken by its colleague, the rules of the road are “give way to the bird approaching” and the bird on the stump gracefully lifts and flies off, sometimes with great last-minute timing too.
Thanks, Terri.
Such a beautiful shot!
Thank you, Lynnette.
This picture is stunning. The GBH is truly majestic.
Thank you, Arwen.
While phrags are nearly at the top of my “10 Most Reviled Invasive Species”, that is simply a gorgeous photograph! Favorite detail may be those scaly feet stretching behind…
I agree, Barbara. As a bird photographer I have a love/hate relationship with phrags.