Great Blue Heron in flight with trees in the backgroundGreat Blue Heron in flight with trees in the background – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/500, ISO 640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

I’m still working at moving the last of my bird images from the old galleries to the new gallery format and at this point I have some of the terns, cardinals & allies and wading birds left to move. The wading birds will take the longest because there are so many of them but I have completed the Great Blue Herons and a few others. While editing other wading bird images I came across this file that I hadn’t ever processed and decided that I should.

When I first looked at it I felt it was a bit dark compared to the images I had taken of Great Blue Herons in Florida most of which had bright skies, white sand and bright blue water or they were touched with the golden light of dawn. This Great Blue Heron was in flight over the north beach of Fort De Soto with dark Australian Pines in the background on a foggy morning.  I liked the position of the wings and the more I look at it the more I like those dark trees in the background and how well the heron stands out from them.

The Australian Pines are no longer there, because they were invasive and prevented native plants from growing underneath them they were removed some time ago. As much as I enjoyed walking underneath them when I was leaving the north beach I understand why they had to go.

Life is good.

Mia

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