Unflappable ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s been my experience that herons are notoriously hard to get close to. They seem to see you coming a mile away and either long-leg it in the other direction or take flight. Not this guy. He’s at the park every morning in about the same spot and people just don’t seem to faze him. In that photo up there I’m about 10 meters away on the other side of the creek with Jack at my feet. Now, Jack is a calm sort of guy so he’s being quiet, but he’s already been in the creek splashing around a bit upstream and the heron looked at him once or twice and shrugged. Jack seems a bit in awe of the bird and always watches him closely. He’s either a bit intimidated or he’s trying to figure out his fishing technique. My bet is on the latter.
The heron seems to be wearing a gray suit and a stripey shirt. A very fine catch.
I saw a pair of grebes (possibly red-necked grebes) when I was swimming. The grebes were probably fishing, as they were diving long dives. I think one of them made threats at me at one point, penguining on the surface and spreading its wings a bit before diving again. Dinosaurs.
It was nice to swim again even though there was a Coast Guard airplane and two helicopters patrolling in the vicinity as a certain dictator from a neighbouring country is visiting Helsinki.
Tastes like chicken.
Such a beautiful dinosaur!
I have gotten close enough to take photos of a Heron, but that was roughly 15 years ago. I was Camouflaged with anti-UV clothing, scent destroyers, even my camera had Camo sleeves put over them. I canoed to an island, then stalked around the crest of the island to the shallow side of the lake to take pictures.
Yours are better!
Wild Herons are super spooky, and will launch into the air at anything out of the ordinary. Just a footstep that crunches a small leaf caught in grass, will get them flying.
Beautiful pictures!
A beautiful photo of a beautiful bird.