Flying under the radar

Great Blue Herons will often fly very low if they don't intend leaving the area. This seems to be my typical in-flight angle when photographing them (flying away from me). Shot on a cold rainy day at ISO 800 and is my first attempt at using lens blur (while post processing -- not while shooting).

Have you noticed how they always have their hands out, like asking for a quarter? Is this your back yard buddy? Do you have a pond, or maybe a pack of rodents, or moles living in the weeds? That is one sweet shot. I'd love to have one come into my yard.

Great capture.

canonloader wrote in post #9572581
Have you noticed how they always have their hands out, like asking for a quarter? Is this your back yard buddy? Do you have a pond, or maybe a pack of rodents, or moles living in the weeds? That is one sweet shot. I'd love to have one come into my yard.

Thanks, Mitch. I think that he was asking for a couple dollars for coffee at Starbucks.

This is just behind my back yard. The heron and a group of great egrets were standing around a small one-acre pond and I did not even notice the heron until I was right on him and we startled each other. When I gathered my wits, I managed to get several shots, but most were obscured by tree branches. He flew across the street to a small lake about twenty acres or so in size.

We do have moles in the yard, so I wish that he would take care of them and I would gladly give him coffee money. We have a resident broad winged hawk that I think is working on the mole and squirrel* problems. I was trying to figure out how to crop the image so that the GBH would be a bit larger, but when my wife saw it she said that she loved the full uncropped version, so that's essentially what it is minus some rotation correction. It was a nasty cold and rainy day so this was a quick grab and then back to the computer to see what I had.

Cyclop wrote in post #9572752
Great capture.

Thanks, Cyclop.

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*squirrel = pecan eating rat with cute fuzzy tail. They also taste good.

I like the full frame too, it tells more of the story. The lighting is perfect.