Blue Herron Flying Away - June 28, 2005

Great Blue Herron — in Sunset Bay: I saw him from a distance, hoped he'd stay still till I got in place, out of the car, camera pointed. I shot shots each few steps. Elegant bird, I rarely see the Blues. Maybe they're the ones who hunt at night, not the Night Herrons. But elegant and so pretty. He stayed in place till I got right on the edge of shore. Then, whoosh, he was off. (Never seen on JR's New White Rock Lake Journal.)

 

 

Night Heron — Walking down the darking path with my sweetie, I caught this elusive night heron hunting along the edge of the water. Too dark for no flash and just strange enough with it and a long, slow shutter — that's his eye all bright reflecting the flash mid the picture. Marvelous abstract realist photograph, all blue of even' bright with bird and night and magic. May 22, 2005

This shot was accepted into the 2005 Art in the Metroplex competitive exhibition opening in September.

Great Wings — My egrets, out in great numbers on one strong windy, cool day late in the longest, best behaved spring I can remember. This is an almost perfect dream shot, with all those so-well-defined feathers spread out and sharply focused, the bird in striking action. May 8 2005

Duck Stripes  I gave this duck a cupla bills to swim out there among the stripes. At first he didn't wanna do it. But the bribe was enough to overcome his initial fears. Then he just swam off into the sunset. May 2 2005

Ruffle Goose  I watched this goose ruffle and unruffle its feathers for about fifteen minutes. It wound its head in, under and around in those feathers, cleaning, ruffling, straightening and smoothing. Gorgeous feathers. March 31 2005

Egret Aloft — I've been trying to get just this shot for more than five years. My first shot in this sequence was the elegant white bird in a familiar ditch. Then I snuk up on him, set my camera to burst mode, which means three shots fired in rapid succession, the last two of which are blind — I pan with the bird while it fires, but the viewer is dead weight black. I just hope.

This time I got lucky. Pretty good focus, not a terrible background (in the shot above) and some feather definition. The two other shots weren't as lucky — the next one (first in the series) is over-exposed in a spot of bright sunlight, but elegant nonetheless — I especially like the trailing feathers in the gull-wing swoop past the pickup truck filled parking lot. ... March 25 2005

Fattened Up Over Winter  Our guys are getting fat and huge — the easier to fly back north where they winter. Nice of them to stay this long, though. Note the fins on some of their beaks; those are the breeding age males.  March 10 2005

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