Continuing the celebration of commonplace birds we now hail the ubiquitous Great Blue Heron. There are too many images to share so I’ll keep the captions brief and let the pictures do the squawking, er, I mean talking.
Their beautiful blue-gray can really pop in the right light.
They share our world without too much complaint, adapting to our cities and towns when they can.
They mimic our styles of dress and mock us through forced perspective.
They are good watchers. They know the rhythms of gophers. They know the rhythms of traffic.
We have at least 3 nesting locations here in San Francisco and that number seems to be climbing slowly.
Males can get into a dance battle if territories are threatened. This strutting display was a delightful surprise to see.
As I’ve posted before they are efficient and merciless hunters.
They are aided by excellent binocular vision that lines up with their dagger-like bill.
This one was so good it caught two fish at a time (just once though).
They do like to supplement their diet with small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects. They are true generalists. And they cough up pellets just like hawks and owls!
Those sharp eyes also keep watch for predators…
and nosey photographers.
Goodnight Heron. Apologies for the photographic onslaught but, as you can see, Great Blue Herons provide plenty of fodder for anyone interested in finding the sublime in the everyday.
Dazzling pictures!!!
Those are magical photos of the Great Blue Heron! I especially love the last two. I’ve been photographing them up here in my town on the Olympic Peninsula, and thought I kept finding the same one with a wound above its wing. Recently I realized they all have a little copper-colored spot above the wing. Is it just coloration?
Breathtaking pictures!!!..Loved it..
I was blown when I once observed a couple GBHE standing in an airfield near San Diego and picking off ground squirrels as they exited their dens.