“Most successful” because I got more sharp shots than I’ve ever managed to get in a single flight series in the past and because several of them are among my favorite photos of the species, in flight or not.
All photos below are presented in the order they were taken but there’s big ‘skips’ between some of them.
Five days ago at Bear River MBR I was attempting to photograph other birds at a spot where one of the canals opens up into a more expansive area of open water when this Great Blue Heron unexpectedly came skimming in over the phrags..
‘His’ apparent intention was to land near the water’s edge but I think the presence of my pickup made him a little nervous so he altered his flight path several times which gave me more time than usual with him in my viewfinder.
In the early shots in the series I had the dark Promontory Mountains in the background and golden phrag plumes anchoring the heron at the bottom of the frame so some of those photos are my favorites. Here the phrags are mostly out of focus but…
four shots in the burst later they were sharp. This is the single photo from the series I posted four days ago.
Occasionally in a series I get two shots where the flight postures of the bird are so much alike they look like carbon copies. That’s what happened with this photo and the previous one, even though there were three other photos between them. I had to look really hard to find any difference between their flight postures and the only difference I found was pretty insignificant.
With his wings in the up position it’s his right wing whose ventral surface is shaded instead of his left.
After this photo he pulled a flight maneuver on me which caused clipped wings and a soft bird for a while but 31 shots later in the burst I managed to…
get everything under control again. But by now the background consisted of blue sky and a few subtle white clouds instead of mountains. In this shot his banking flight posture allows a good look at his entire dorsal surface.
For the next few shots we get only a hint of the golden phrags at the…
bottom of the frame.
Now he’s banking again.
I completely lost the phrags at the bottom of the frame for a while and in an effort to keep some of them in frame…
I nearly clipped a wing on this next shot.
In some ways I’d have been better off if I hadn’t been using my teleconverter which would have allowed me to keep more of the phrags in the frame and avoid clipping body parts in so many photos. On the flip side using the teleconverter made the heron larger in the frame and gave me better detail.
In this shot I like the asymmetry of his flight posture.
I’ll close with the photo in the series that I think best shows the primitive appearance that Great Blue Herons are known for.
I really gave my old Canon 7D Mark II camera a workout on this series. In the eight seconds I had the heron in my viewfinder I took 79 photos of him. I clipped body parts in 32 of them and another 13 photos were soft but that still leaves me with 34 sharp shots with no clipped or cut off body parts.
The way I look at it a batting average of .430 isn’t bad for an old man with marginal eyesight and an old camera.
Ron
Notes:
- The image techs for most of the photos in this series were in the range of 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender.
- Credit for the idea of looking at my success rate with these photos as a batting average goes to my friend Neil Rossmiller. I didn’t have the creativity to come up with it myself.
Ron, I am not sure if you will see this post after 8 days or so. They are just beautiful. My lap top hit the dust on April 20 th and just now getting back on line.
Ron, these are fabulous. Took my breath away.
Seeing this a day late, I have no additional kudos to add to all the others I’ve read — this is a really spectacular series and I’m really happy for your success! Makes me want to go wander along the Ventura River trail and find one of these fellows ….
You had me at GBH! Such a handsome dinosaur. ❤️ I love the banking shots because the “blue” in GBH really stands out. He is quite the gorgeous specimen.
Then I’ll probably get you again tomorrow, Marty. Another ‘back to back’ coming up.
Love the light! And the golden phrag plumes (would not have known what they were). Great shots!
Ellen, most phragmites species in the US are an invasive scourge but at certain times of the year their plumes sure look great in photos.
No favourites. Awe, wonder and gratitude. Which are pretty damn good ways to start my day (after I pilled the cat).
Thank you. Again.
EC, if I remember correctly (it’s been a while) pilling the cat is a pretty damn good thing to get behind you.
Twice daily for the rest of his days we are told. I am getting better at it.
Wow! Thanks for taking us all with you in your truck! A breathless 8 seconds!
Kind of like watching the Olympics, when they do the slo-mo of an amazing dive or skating move – you say “How did he DO that?” The wonder applies to both the bird and the photographer!
“Thanks for taking us all with you in your truck”
Hope it wasn’t too crowded in there for you… 🙂 Thanks, Carolyn.
All these photos show just how colorful Great Blue Herons really are. And graceful. And Jurassical. A resounding success, indeed.
“Jurassical” – I really like that one Lyle.
These are stunning! Thank you for sharing this beautiful series with us.
Thanks, Mary.
Spectacular series! A few more photos thrown in and perhaps with luck we would be able to visualize this as a ‘flip-page’ book. Very hard to choose a ‘best photo’ here but I lean towards 0762 and 0766. They are certainly sharp!
Well with 34 sharp shots it’s probably enough, Kathy. The problem would be the several “skips” of multiple images that would disrupt the action.
Absolutely Magnificent!!
OK, yes I am envious, very envious!
Thank you, Dick.
Love the banking shot showing off the entire dorsal – simply gorgeous!!! All this beauty in 8 seconds? Have to pause and catch my breath …. 🙂
“All this beauty in 8 seconds?”
Yup, and it was one of the fastest 8 seconds of my life. Thanks, Kathleen.
Ron,
Great series of a beautiful bird. And a nice (better than most) batting average.
BTW, today is the first day of my retirement… so more time for the camera and birds! Maybe I will run into you more.
Best,
Stephen
Congrats, Stephen! Retirement is a huge deal and I’m very happy for you. Hope to see you “out there” more often now.
Great pictures Ron. So the camera and lens are working so well for you again.
Yes, they are Ken. So far anyway…
Spectacular! I really love it when you post a series as it lets me better imagine what it was like to be there. The banking shots are my favorites; I tried but couldn’t choose just one that I like best.
Linda, I like series too even though they’re a lot of work for me to post. A flight series allows us to see many of the mechanics of flight that usually aren’t apparent in a single shot or in groups of unassociated shots.
Fabulous series, 0759 is my favorite.
Thank you, Jo.
What a fabulously successful day ! Everything– newly refurbished equipment,
a lifetime of experience, and even the weather paid off in spades…. what a
pleasure to see these, with lots of variety in the angles and wing positions
as well !
Thanks very much, Kris.
Wonderful group!! A pleasure to see the sequence of photographs.
Glad you like them, Joanne. Thanks.
An outstanding series and success with the 7D 2!
Thank you, Bruce.
An old man with marginal eyesight and an old camera. Not bad? I say extraordinary !!!!! Don’t think many young men or women with perfect eyesight and a brand new state of the art camera could come close.
My two favorites are the original one with the phrags and the one showing the asymmetry of his flight posture.
A side note – got my morning e-mail from Barnes and Nobel and they were listing their book awards for children and young adults. The children’s winner is called Mell Fell and it is about a Kingfisher named Mell who is learning to fly. I don’t have any young grand kids, but I might buy it just for fun.
Thanks, Everett. It’s great to see a book about birds winning awards and recommendations, especially one written for children and young adults.
WOW! What a great series, Ron! 😲😍 #5 almost looks like a painting. Great detail in all and, yes, the last shot does look like it’s “primitive” in contrast to the others…. 😉 “Not bad” for anyone! 😉
““Not bad” for anyone!”
That’s kinda what I think, Judy. Occasionally everything comes together.
I keep thinking how upset I’d have been if this opportunity had presented itself before I sent my camera and lens to Canon for repair. If all 79 photos had been soft I’d have been really pissed…
I’m sure the air would have been “blue” clear up here…… 😉
Undoubtedly!
Great series, but I especially like the banking shots Ron !!
Thank you, Gary.
Loverly!!
Thankerly.