Calling adult Great Blue Heron portraitCalling adult Great Blue Heron portrait – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited

In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn’t the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.  The Great Blue Heron in the image above walked so close to me at Fort De Soto’s north beach that I felt the only option I had was to take head shot images. The heron was squawking at a Great Egret that seemed to be too close.

Great Blue Heron portraitGreat Blue Heron portrait – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

Last week on the auto tour route of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I was able to photograph this Great Blue Heron that was close to the edge of the road and to get a head shot! The heron only stuck around for about 8 frames but I was happy.

Even Great Blue Herons go through periods where they don’t look quite so handsome, notice how nice the plumage looks in the image of the heron from Florida taken March of 2009 and how raggedy the heron from Utah looks in the month of July? Oh well, I like both images.

Two very different Great Blue Heron portraits from Florida and Utah.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.