One of the things I’ve been trying to do this winter is take pictures at Ridgefield that tell the story of the refuge and the animals that live there. And one of those stories is the fog that often envelops the refuge on an early winter morning.

My original idea was to photograph the heron upright against the fog so its silhouette would be instantly recognizable — and I did take some pictures like that — but when the heron dropped into a horizontal hunting pose I loved the subtlety of the picture. Peaceful and tranquil yet a reminder that, visible or not, the life-and-death struggle never ends.

A subtle picture like this loses much of its charm when I look at it on my laptop display, I much prefer it on my desktop monitor.