Great Blue Heron Gallery #1

Great blue herons are widespread across the continental United States. In places like Florida and other coastal states, they can be so accustomed to human presence (and even handouts of fish) that they are almost tame. Yet in some other places, they are so easily spooked that even a telephoto lens won't allow for a close picture.

Pictures of these enigmatic creatures are a dime a dozen, with even point and shoots capable of close-ups in places like the Everglades in southern Florida. I've tried to take some environmental portraits that place the heron in a somewhat different light. All of these are taken in the Pacific Northwest, where places like Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington and Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon allow not only close views of the birds when viewed from the car, but also allow you to watch them in their wild element.

I also have a second gallery of great blue heron pictures.

	(Almost) Missed Opportunity It was near sunset at Baskett Slough as I waited to see if black-tailed deer would emerge into the golden light, but none were forthcoming so I headed back to the car to try my luck at one of the ponds before the light slipped away. By the time I got there, I was disappointed to see that the direct light was already blocked from the pond and thought my chances of getting a good picture were over. Then I noticed this great blue heron against the brilliant orange reflection of the sunset and shot a whole sequence as he slowly moved around. It was one of my earliest pictures after getting a digital camera and remains one of my favorites.
	Where Did Everybody Go? Another heron at the Slough from early 2001. A huge flock of Canada geese winter at the refuge and had been feeding in this field. When the flock noisily took to the air en masse, they left behind a bunch of white feathers, their droppings, and one lonely heron. This environmental portrait has remained one of my favorite heron pictures, it's a little comical and a little sad, all in one picture.
	Impaled The first time the heron caught this vole, it didn't get a great grip. The vole struggled and eventually the heron dropped it, but almost immediately captured it again. This time it gored the vole with its bill, as can be seen in this picture. The vole wasn't fighting nearly so much anymore, and a few seconds later the heron had flipped the vole into its mouth and then swallowed it whole.

Shadow of a Hunter A heron perches on a downed tree as its shadow is cast over the duckweed filled waters. Even though it was actively scanning and listening for movement in the water below, it seemed perched much too high to have a reasonable chance at capturing any frogs or fish. It eventually started hunting closer to the water.

You Hear Me Talkin'? A heron in mid-yawn with its mouth wide open at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Normally the herons at the refuge don't allow such a close approach on foot, but this one wasn't bothered by the fact that I came walking along the Kiwa Trail. I changed positions to get the pictures I wanted: in the shot above, I wanted just his shadow and the duckweed. In this picture, I wanted a clean background of green with just his head and shoulders. Fortunately he yawned after a few minutes, making for a much more dynamic image.

The Killing Fields At the end of the auto tour route at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge's River S Unit, there are several large fields that provide a close view of a variety of the northwest's marsh predators. Most commonly seen are the large waders (like the great blue heron and four great egrets seen here) and birds of prey like red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, and American kestrels. But you can also see coyotes, bald eagles, and rough-legged hawks plying the fields. In fact, on a good day, you might see almost all of them sharing the large fields as they each hunt in their own distinctive ways.

This picture is all about earth tones and textures. The heron was slowly stalking its prey through the tall brown grasses, usually mostly obscured from sight. It paused and stood upright to take survey of its surroundings and a strong gust of wind made its neck feathers stand straight out.

Another attempt at creating something other than the typical static heron portrait. This one was hunting in some fields not far from where the sunset picture above was taken. This day, however, was heavily overcast and often raining heavily. At the moment, however, it was actually snowing which you can see pretty clearly on the larger picture. I wasn't totally happy with the picture since the snow isn't very visible around the heron's level, but I still like the mood the picture conveys.

Young Blue at Sunset It's hard to get a sense of how small this young heron is from the picture, but it was noticeably smaller than an adult heron (but still larger than many of the smaller herons like a green heron or the night herons). The dead giveaway that this is not an adult, though, is in the head: young herons lack the white stripe that runs the length of the adult's head. This one is young enough that the feathers at the top of its head aren't really blue.

A great blue heron takes flight on a rainy day in Oregon.