This is the Great Egret that’s been hanging around the Bear River east of Bear River MBR for some time now.
1/5000, f/5.6, ISO 320, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
I’ve found ‘him’ in the same general vicinity on my last three trips to the refuge, including two days ago when this photo was taken. This bird and an unusually aggressive Great Blue Heron often duke it out for fishing rights on that area of the river but on this morning the two of them were several hundred yards apart and ignoring each other. For the moment at least.
Obviously, this photo was taken immediately after the egret made a strike on a fish. And missed. Photos of fishing egrets and herons are a dime a dozen but I like this one in part because it’s rare for me to get such a low shooting angle on fishing birds, especially large ones.
Immediately after the egret missed the fish, a fisherman in a pickup drove quite a distance past me on the road going west, turned around and came back, and then pulled in right in front of my pickup and parked. Then he got out of his truck to retrieve his fishing gear from the back and go fishing.
The second he opened his door and got out of his pickup…
1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 320, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
this was the result. The egret vamoosed and disappeared to the west.
Thanks guy.
Ron
PS – I thought it was interesting that in the photo above the egret had fully deployed the alula on his left wing but not the alula on his right wing. I’m not surprised but I still thought it was interesting.
And I still don’t know if birds have control over their alulae or they deploy automatically in certain situations.
What an amazing photo of the egret opening its wings to take off. The only good outcome from a rude fisherman. Here’s hoping he picked up a nail in his tire and ended up with a flat! I love the kestrel hovering. Thank you to Dan for the interesting anatomy lesson.
Thanks, Melanie. In addition to the nail, I hope he didn’t catch any fish!
Hiss and spit at the fisherman – but that is one spectacular shot. It is good to keep learning here (as I so often say). Thanks teach.
Thanks, EC. Although it was Dan Gleason who did much of the teaching today.
The alula has three small muscles associated with it. They assist with retracting it against the wing and help keep it in place. This would seem to imply voluntary control. However, a paper published in 2001 looked at this question (and many other aerodynamic considerations associated with the alula). Their experimental work concluded that alula deflection was due to pressure forces and not voluntary control. In one set of experiments, deflection was the same in a dead pigeon as it was in living birds.
Very interesting, Dan. I wonder if those three small muscles became vestigial.
I don’t believe they are vestigial. Pressure changes during takeoff apparently extend the alula but these muscles are retractors, pulling alula in place against the wing during flight.
OK, got it.
This is one beautiful bird! Glad he didn’t get driven all the way to Idaho by that GBH (or gored!) Maybe the GBH should be going after rude human fishermen instead of fellow birds. (Did the guy even say good morning?)
The alula post is fascinating – the photos and the comments. Thanks for including the link.
“Did the guy even say good morning?”
Nope, he just ignored me. Asserting his “rights” I guess.
Glad you enjoyed the alula stuff. Thanks, Carolyn.
Beautiful! It is interesting about the alula being deployed only on one side. The capture of the miss is great. Whata “jerk” (being polite) SFB fisherman for sure – guess only he counts in these situation – hope he, like the Egret, gets skunked….. 😉
I was almost skunked myself that morning, Judy. If not for the snipes and this egret, I would have been.
Miss or not that is one healthy looking Egret. I don’t think he or she misses often.
Interesting about the fisherman. Going around our lakes I would never stop and set up taking photos near them, and would not expect one to stop by me and set up either. The guy can easily see what you are doing. There must be dozens of places he could stop without disturbing you.
There was dozens of places, Everett. He was just being a jerk.
Like that second shot, even though it spelled the end of a photo session with that subject. Bird wings and feathers. Unlikely that humans will ever design and build anything so elegant and functional.
That hovering Kestrel shot is beautiful.
Thanks, Michael. I doubt it also.
Wow, you’re up early on a Saturday morning.
Best part of the day.