Great Blue Herons Can And Do Swim... Slowly...

I watched and shot this GBH on the other side of the channel for about an hour. He worked his way down the far side of a small sand spit. When he got to the end, he decided to come across the channel which is fairly swift water roughly 50 feet wide and about 7 feet deep. I guess it wasn't worth the effort to flap across.

Here he makes the decision to swim across...

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Very nice series Mitch. I've only seen a GBH swin like a duck twice since I started observing these birds.

Nice series Mitch. I haven't see GBH swimming before, though I've seen other wader
swimming. From the looks of the photos, it swam in a stately fashion, like a swan,
without bobbing it's head while it stroked it's legs like a pigeon walking.

Thanks Reyno. The first time I saw this was while living at a Marina in Kentucky. The lake had spots that would just drop off into deep water and I've seen them take the wrong step a few times. I was amazed to see they could float so well.

This kind of surprised me though. He knew I was there and the current in that channel is faster than you can walk. It is hot today though, so maybe the water felt good.

George, it was stately, and slow. I think it must have taken 4 or 5 minutes to cross. He was fighting the current though.

I've never seen that either. Cook shot!
Karen

Cool series of the GBH Mitch! I've seen a lot of GBH's but have never seen them wade in that deep of water. It must have been a good way of cooling off.

Thanks Karen and Dennis. He's definately swimming in the middle there. I've been out there in a canoe, and you can't touch bottom with a 5 foot paddle.

Excellent behaviour series.

Thanks Sindri. I was actually wondering why he bothered to swim, since it took him so long to go only 50 feet.

Great job Mitch, behavior shots are much more useful than a portrait.

Thanks Dan. I'm always looking for pictures that tell a story and it's real hard to do with just one or two shots.

Very cool, Mitch! I've never seen a swimming GBH! Great captures

great set mitch if any crop on these or f/f 500mm or less. im still trying to get close .
but they aint havin any of it. most frustraiting.

Cool series!!