I actually got nine additional photos of this bird in flight but I thought these fourteen were the best ones. They’re all presented in the order they were taken with no skips. As in all series some are better than others but whenever practical I like seeing all of them with none left out of the sequence.
I photographed this heron six days ago at Farmington Bay WMA. Despite the fairly busy background I had several things in my favor in getting a long series of decent images as the bird took off and flew to my left:
- the heron decided to follow the canal and fly low and below the reeds so I had a good angle on ‘him’ as he flew (in other words he didn’t turn away from me).
- I had good light on the bird the entire time
- he started out far enough to my right that in none of the fourteen images is the heron already past me (we’re not looking at him from behind)
- I was using my smaller zoom lens because I was close. If I’d been using my 500mm like I usually do I wouldn’t have been able to fit the bird in the frame and I wouldn’t have had enough depth of field to get all of the parts that were in the frame sharp enough
- the heron was at an ideal distance to allow for good detail on the bird and still give me a reasonable chance to avoid clipping any body parts throughout the series
- because there was duckweed on the water’s surface I had a distinct shadow of the bird throughout which I like
There’s a lot if images here and many of them are similar so I won’t be doing much narration (can you imagine that, he’s going to mostly shut up for a while!). The photos speak for themselves, good, bad or indifferent.
Here I like the water and duckweed trailing off of the feet as the heron takes off.
Notice that he continues to fly horizontally without gaining elevation. I believe his goal was a fairly large body of water that was directly in front of him so it would be a waste of energy to gain elevation when his intention was to land soon.
I’ll end with the single image I posted of this bird six days ago. For the entire series I’ve cropped to include all of the shadow because I think it adds a little something to each photo.
One of the reasons I enjoy seeing series with no skips like this is it allows me to accurately judge how far the bird has traveled in the 1/10th of a second between images in a burst with my camera. For some reason I enjoy analyzing stuff like that…
Ron
Note: Image techs for these photos were: 1/2500-1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 234mm.
They are so graceful in flight and I enjoy seeing each wing flap! Beautiful !❤️💕💚
And this is exactly why GBHs are among my very favorite birds!!! He’s remarkable! This is such a great series. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the shots.
Thanks, Marty. I may not be posting any more photos of this bird. I think these are the best ones. But who knows, I could be surprised some day if I look at them more carefully…
Some beauties in that group! It’s fun photographic lesson to see all of them together and how a movement of the wings, a shadow or an angle can make all the difference. Thanks for sharing the sequence.
Interesting observations, Joanne. Thanks.
Great series! Love the wing positions, shadows…can almost hear the prehistoric sounds they make…and that make my hair stand on end…and the heavy, powerful strokes of their wings…
They sure do make some weird sounds. Thanks, Patty.
Ron, as I scrolled through these photos several times, I tried to correlate the wing and body position with the feet but wasn’t able to draw a conclusion. It is interesting when the feet are level with the body that the Heron appears to be floating in the air, rather than flying.
I enjoyed your presentation, very much.
Thank you, Ron
It’s fun to study the bird in a series like this. Thanks, Alice.
Perfection Ron! Congrats! Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
Beautiful series wish I could view them on my laptop instead of my small iPhone screen!
I wish you could too, April. Thanks.
Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my.
🙂
Great sequence, Ron. It almost seems you could make one of those flip-card sets and see a “live-action” show. Although I see them almost every day, I have never noticed all the bare skin at the wing joints; and those drumsticks legs are a kick (no pun intended).
Lyle, I often do that with photos like these when they’re in other programs so they can be viewed quickly without having to scroll. It actually becomes quite a bit like watching slo-mo video.
Wonderful sequence and a great series to show wing movement. You can clearly see the folded wing with slotting between the feathers on the upstroke and the fully extended wing with feathers snapped together to form a continuous surface on the downstroke and you can also see that the wings are pulled forward on the downstroke, generating lift. By the way, do you have any idea of how far (in feet) the bird actually traveled in that 1/10 of a second?
Thanks, Dan and you make some excellent points about how the wing works.
How far it traveled in that time seemed to have varied. In most of them it appeared to me to be between one and two feet.
GBH is one of my favorites. I loved seeing how much “scoop” there is in the wings.
Good point, Arwen.
Beautiful series, Ron. For me, herons and roadrunners are two birds that cause me to think “dinosaur”!
Cathryn
Agreed, Cathryn. I’d throw pelicans into that mix too. Glad to see you (we) solved your commenting issue… 🙂
Very interesting series. This bird does not look nearly as uncoordinated as I remember their takeoffs being. I don’t see what appears to be a struggle to get off the ground. What I find most interesting is that in the sixth shot and one later one, where the wings are arched, it looks to me as if the bird doesn’t really have much of a body. I like that you included the shadow in all of the shots. It makes the series more special.
“it looks to me as if the bird doesn’t really have much of a body”
Those huge wings and very long neck sure make it look like that, Susan. They usually don’t really struggle, they’re just big, ungainly looking and relatively slow in flight. Thank you.
Excellent series Ron, and definitely not an easy task to follow along getting perfect shots burst after burst. Right time at the right place too as you pointed out with the heron staying on a straight and level course. So often here they will start out low, but quickly make a turn like a jet fighter pilot and swoop up into the tops of the pine trees.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
They typically turn away from me too, Everett. But every once in a great while Lady Luck comes to the rescue.
Thanks for sharing these wonderful Great Blue Heron pictures! What an awesome series! I love that shadow too. Recently we had a flock of over a dozen migrating Great Blue Herons come to roost over night in the trees across the small cove where I live in Nova Scotia. The herons were taking shelter from high winds and rain from the remnants of Hurricane Michael that moved up the US coast from the south. In the early morning I got a group shot for documentation but, when I tired to zoom-in, my camera quit because my battery ran out of charge. By the time my single battery-pack had recharged the flock had lifted up and moved on. Poor preparation and readiness on my part, an opportunity missed and lesson learned. Oh, how I admire anyone with photographic awareness and intent! Nevertheless, it was a wonderful sight to behold, one that is now etched in my memory.
Thanks, Robert. I don’t know if I have enough “photographic awareness” but I always have at least one spare (charged) battery with me just in case I slip up. And I’ve used that battery more than once!
Beautiful series Ron! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Love the different wing positions and, as always, I’m fascinated by the flexible neck!
Good point, Judy. That’s a neck to end all necks!
Wow! I love this as a series, and I enjoyed the shadow bird almost as much as the 3D heron!
Good. Thanks, Mary.
Great series! Love the launch photo and the two follow-up photos…the strength in those wings! The finesse of this birds flying is a sight to behold…true artistry. I’ve seen them fly through heavily wooded wetlands and it seems they fly by radar…weaving between trees without err. On a side note, the ShortEars have returned here…at least the first two so far! I photographed two last evening but in spots I haven’t found them before…alfalfa fields that were just cut near here. Not hunting, just sitting as I observed them for 45 minutes or so. Uneventful photos, just sitting on the ground…perhaps post migration stress…if that’s possible. One was constantly being harassed by two female Harriers as they kept diving down at it.
Oops…’diving down at ‘him’ meant to say!
Thank you, Kathy. I’m jealous of your SEO’s. I rarely see them this time of year.
Wow! a perfect series of Heron with shadow “he” would have been pleased as well! LOL
I’m always happy to please my subjects, Donald! Thanks.