Great Blue Herons for Feathered Friday
Hey folks, welcome to another Feathered Friday, hosted by yours truly, @keithboone.
If you love photographing birds as much as I do, I just know you have some great photos to share. To participate in #FeatheredFriday and receive an upvote & resteem, please follow these simple steps:
- Make your own post and use the tag #featheredfriday
- Comment below with a link to your post - This will get you a lot of extra exposure from the other participants. If you don't do this, I may accidentally miss your post because Feathered Friday is starting to get busy.
- Consider using the #birding tag which will also get some more eyes on your post.
This week I'm going to share a bunch of photos of one of my favourite birds - the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias).
Nikon D7100, 1/1600s f/6.3 ISO1000 200mm
Many of these photos were taken in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, BC. I've mentioned this park before, it's an awesome place to photograph birds. The heron is a migratory bird but in this area, they don't go far. In the spring there is a large colony which moves into the park until the babies are hatched and learn to fly. For the rest of the year, most of the colony will disperse and move out to the ocean shoreline. I don't think many of them move any farther away than that.
Nikon D7100, 1/1600s f/7.1 ISO1000 200mm
The first two shots were taken back to back... click, click. I looked up, and there it was, just gliding past, maybe twenty yards away. Those are two of my best shots, and they were almost an accident. I was in the right place and the right time is all...
Nikon D750, 1/2000s f/8.0 ISO500 160mm
Next, I'll take you to the Esquimalt Migratory Bird Sanctuary to watch the Herons do a little fishing.
Nikon D750, 1/2000s f/8.0 ISO450 260mm
Above: that's a decent size fish the Heron has caught!
Nikon D750, 1/2000s f/8.0 ISO450 600mm
Below: This shot shows a fledgeling - a baby who has just learned to fly. It was standing on the grass next to a path in the park and I approached to within about ten feet. The bird paid no attention to me, it was completely unafraid. I don't think it had figured out what people were yet!
Nikon D750, 1/2000s f/5.6 ISO800 300mm
Finally, I've got a little gif file to show you. These shots were taken at Cattle Point in Oak Bay. I saw the heron pair standing on some rocks and I slowly moved closer, hoping for some nice close-up shots. Just then, someone's dog ran towards them and the two birds took off flying. I was still pretty far away so I didn't get my close-ups, but I've always enjoyed this sequence of photos.
That's all I've got for this week, folks. Let's see what you have. As I mentioned, if you leave a link in the comments, and even include a photo there, you will get more views. Thanks for taking a look, have a great weekend! Please click for a full-screen view.
Absolutely superb shots! You must have a very good control of the camera that you were able to catch the flying creature with such crisp details. The close-up shots are also great with vivid details. And I love the last gif photo. The birds come to life!
Thank you very much! It just takes practice, and 95% of all my bird shots get deleted! I'm happy you liked the photos!
I love that gif! They are such amazing birds!
Here is mine for this week! https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@melinda010100/feathered-friday-81a5f737fdba8
Thank you, Melinda! I always look forward to your post - that's a gorgeous photo! Such a pretty bird! Have a great weekend :-)
He does have a pretty red tie! I hope your weekend is wonderful, too
I have some heron shots and I am so glad I did not post them this week! You are so talented! No right place right time bs involved.
So in contrast, take a look at this. Maybe after a few cocktails :)
https://steemit.com/untalented/@fitinfun/birds-in-flight-for-feathered-friday
Ok, I've had a drink, let's go see! :-)
What a amazing looking bird i can't say i have ever seen a Great Blue Heron something similar yes but not that one you got some really fantastic shots love them all :)
Here is my link ....Larry the white cookatoo and his friends :)
Feathered Friday hosted by @keithboone !!
Thank you @hanging! Classic photo with the cracker! I'm off to visit your post...
Thank you @pixresteemer!
Congratulations! Your post was selected by the @dropahead Curation Team (dCT)
It really amazes me how your extraordinary post becomes an even more extraordinary sub-trend of magnificent shots. I really like the passion you guys transmit with this type of events, it inspires me :)
Thanks for sharing, best regards.
@dropahead - Supporting your STEEM adventure
Quality review by the dropahead Curation Team
According to our quality standards(1), your publication has reached an score of 93%.
Congratulations for your excellent work!
(1) @dropahead's quality standards:
- Graphic relation to the text (Choice of images according to the text)
- Order and coherence
- Style and uniqueness (Personal touch, logic, complexity, what makes it interesting and easy to understand for the reader)
- Images source and their usage license
Thanks very much, a score of 93% sounds nice! What makes these posts successful is the number of bird lovers who are participating, and all the great photos they share!
Happy weekend for all, this is my participation on feather Friday
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@maxili63/feathered-friday-pet-shoes-model
That is such a cool bird! I love it!
hank you very much @keithboone, I'm happy you like it, it's a pretty funny pet
WOW!!! Absolutely magnificent shots Keith. Although, I feel bad for the fish, but in this case I have to put my feelings aside.
By the way, I bough a new camera, although still not professional, but good enough for someone like me who is still learning. I am not sure if you are familiar with Canon EOS REBEL. I got also an additional macro lens and I am uploading Canon coach app, so wish me luck, lol.
Thanks very much, Lena! I know what you mean about the fish, but the heron has got to eat... Crazy world, right? I am a bit familiar with the Canon Rebel - that's a fine camera. I do most of my photography with a camera that isn't that good. What kind of lenses do you have? I think you're going to love it, my son has one.
I know Keith, I just been silly. It's nature's way.
However, I am to hear good things from you about Canon Rebel. I bought it on Amazon, slightly used, lol. But it looks totally bran new, it just the price for very good $429.00 plus tax.
The lens is Fotodiox Pro Auto Macro Extension Tube Kit for Canon EOS EF/EF-S Lenses for Extreme Close-Up. That one was $73.97.
By the way, what you mean your camera is not very good. You have Olympus right?
I mean that the Canon has a larger sensor than the Olympus, which is my normal walk-around camera. I do also have a full-frame Nikon for when I want to get serious. The little Olympus is fun but can't match the quality of your Canon or my Nikon.
Ohhhhhhhhhh I see. So you have three cameras and the Nikon is the King. Okay than. But I ma really glad that my Canon is better than I thought.
I have two cameras, an Olympus Em-5mk II & Nikon D750, but I've had others. If you look at the first two heron shots in this post, those were taken with a camera that has the same size sensor as your Canon. I had a consumer quality zoom lens on it nothing fancy. There is no reason you couldn't take pictures like that. The lens was a 70-300mm, you can get them used for $200. I've bought almost all my lenses second hand.
Right now I have to get familiar with what I have and later on I can add some more. Thank you for the advice Keith 😊
Great post to kick off #featheredfriday @keithboone!
Thank you very much, Steven!
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@photowanze/pelican-captured-in-alwetter-zoo-muenster-for-featheredfriday
Hey this Pelican is my entry for featheredfriday. Wishing you all a nice weekend!
Happy to see you pelican, that's a great entry. I hope some people will show this bird a little love! (That means VOTE for it, you guys!)