Great Blue Heron

As I came out of the woods into the open area, I could see I had made a tactical error. The trail led along a brook into the low winter sun. Not only was it hard for me to see any of them ahead with the sun in my eyes, but they could easily see me coming. As I walked along, I flushed a mallard. It took off into the sun to somewhere I could hardly see. I continued a few more yards and then I stopped, muttering to myself, pondering my situation. I looked to the right and less than ten yards away I saw it.

A great blue heron. I looked away, not wanting to spook the bird more than I already had. I checked my camera, turned towards it, slowly, but not too slowly, bringing up my camera. I centered the frame on the bird's eye, waited an endless second for the blue rectangle indicating a lock on from the auto focus, and took the picture. My lens was zoomed for tiny song birds, I didn't have time to unzoom to fit in the whole heron. The next frame was just wing and tail feathers as the bird flew off.


I tried to get another shot but this is best I could do. As I got closer, it moved off. I let it be. It's tough to be a bird.

Click on an image for a larger picture.

Great Blue Heron, 1/16/10
Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Worcester, MA
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS