![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/great-blue-heron-9866-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-9866-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nA trip to Bear River MBR yesterday morning resulted in a single photo that strikes my fancy.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This may be a classic pose for a cormorant but I rarely if ever get such a good look at the dorsal feather groups of any species of heron.<\/p>\n It may look like some kind of displaying behavior but it isn’t. The heron had actually just landed after a very short flight of less than 10′ from one spot on the riverbank to another. The cold wind was blowing fairly hard which I believe contributed to both the difficulty of the maneuver and to the amount of flaring of the wings and tail immediately after landing.<\/p>\n I was just lucky to get a head turn that allowed us to see the heron’s face and eye (I believe this bird was looking at two other herons out of frame to the left.)<\/p>\n I’m not particularly fond of the messy phragmites so close to the bird in the background and elsewhere but I’m almost mesmerized by how well the dorsal feather groups are displayed in good light. We can clearly differentiate each of the following groups and more:<\/p>\n I’ve photographed this and similar poses in other birds of course but I think the distinctive color patterns inherent in Great Blue Herons enhance and help to distinguish the feather groups from each other unusually well.<\/p>\n It’s one thing to see all these feather groups beautifully illustrated in a painting or drawing in a field guide by someone like David Sibley but in my view it’s even better to see them clearly differentiated on a living, breathing bird.<\/p>\n Even Sibley might agree.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A trip to Bear River MBR yesterday morning resulted in a single photo that strikes my fancy.<\/p>\n\n