On A Misty Morning

Looking for breakfast in the early morning hours this Heron paitiently watches for a ripple on the water.  A sign that a meal might be at hand.

A Heron Visits For Dinner

With a neck like this there should be no misses when catching dinner.  There are two regular visitors to the pond and this one must be younger because he does miss and has a different approach to the task.

 

 

This strike was a miss.  He's somewhat an impatient fisherman (bird).  Moves too fast and in many cases he walks along the bank so he's actually too far from his prey.

 

 

After missing several times from this location he decided to go ahead and move on along the back but in the water.  He's headed into a known feeding ground for the fish.  We can see their activity around the pond in several locations so dinner may be just ahead.

 

Twinkle Twinkle

Star bursts in the water.  This is what you get when taking an overhead shot around noon with a very bright and cloudless day.  A polarizing filter helped a bit.  One of my personal favorite Heron photos.  Click on him.  This on is the young one that visits the pond.

Reflections of a Blue Heron

The ice is starting to give way to its liquid state around the edges so a Blue Heron decided to visit and try its luck at fishing for a meal. Missed it on camera but I did witness two catches. There is very little disturbance in the water as it moves creating an almost mirrored reflection.

Fight

Funny thing, the geese get along with the ducks but you will see them posture themselves against other geese. Several Blue Herons come to the pond and this is one of the larger birds. First time I have seen a goose challenge or charge anything other than other geese.

An Early Visit

Today we had an early visitor to the pond next to our home. It looked like it is a young Heron but that didn't stop it from being an excellent fisherman. I know they don't really leave the area but it is unusual to see one here this early.

Reflections of a New Addition to the Pond

Last year we had a Great Blue Heron and a White Heron join the ducks and geese that frequent our neighborhood pond. Late in the summer a Bittern showed up. I had to use a friend, Abe Lincoln his real name, help me with finding out what the bird was. He has tons of birds on his blog.

Well, this year we have had a few geese and only one set of baby ducks so far. There were eight but one now missing. There have been several Blue Herons but no White ones. One of the Blues has to have a five foot wing span. Interestingly there are not one but three Bitterns. Not sure if they is a pair amongst them or not. They are of the Heron family but they don't seem to wade out as much, they fish more from the bank.

Feeding at Night

Caught this Blue Heron feeding at last night just before mid-night.

Shot with the Rebel EOS XTi using a Tamron 18-270mm DiII 72mm VCD lens. ISO of 1600, f 4.0 set at +1 f-stop with focal plane of 42mm and the white balance set at auto. Smudges are rain drops on the window. Sump pump has ran for 24 hrs. straight with no breaks.

Feeding on a Rainy Day

A Blue Heron on the prowel for food on a rainy day.  There are lots of small fish so his efforts won't be wasted. As you can see, he has had luck.

New Bird in the Neighborhood

These pictures were taken on 4/2/10 but I couldn't post them because I didn't know what the bird was.  I knew it looked like a Blue Heron and in fact it is of that family of birds.  It is referred to in different ways but they all lead up to an Egret or a White Egret or even a Great White Egret. There is a post that I follow because the gentleman that has it does real justice to photography of birds. 

Little did I know that we only lived about 4 miles apart for 22 years before I moved out of that area about 12 years ago. This is a link to Abe's site and yes, this is his real name...http://mybirdsblog.blogspot.com/.

Abe tells me in an email that it is mating season and that their plumage will change. In the attached link to allaboutbirds I believe you can see images of the long feather exentions.