GREAT BLUE

Great Blue Heron in flight in the last light of the day on September 25 at the Edmonds Marsh wildlife preserve in Edmonds, WA.

I'm always impressed with tack-sharp bird photos. I know how difficult it is to shoot photos of birds. They are small and tough to capture when sitting still on a perch let alone tough to catch in flight. This image was one of a few decent shots I captured of blue herons in flight during a period of about 1 1/2 hours of waiting. Most of the time, the herons (at least at this time of year) simply stand in the salt-water marsh catching small fish and grooming themselves. When they do launch into the air - at least to my untrained eye - it is not entirely predictable (though I'm sure that astute observers of herons will recognize all the clues that they are about to fly). Photographing herons is almost cheating though. These birds are surely the "747s" of the avian world. That makes herons easier to photograph from a distance. At 100 or 200 yards distance, these guys only fill a small part of the image - even with the equivalent of 960mm of focal length. Just imagine trying to shoot smaller birds in flight! With wings outstretched, they are huge and gangly, ungainly birds. Once in flight, they seem to have new found grace however, and their flight is beautiful. Approaching landing, long spindly legs unfold and they seem to almost crash land wherever they come to a rest. They don't seem to land with the precision of an eagle.

After waking up at 3 AM to make the trip to Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan at Artist Point, I had to return to Everett before 1 PM to pick up parts for my tractor, and then I had to shoot a soccer match before returning to wildlife photography. After the soccer match, I headed to Edmond's Marsh and headed out to the last viewing platform (furthest south) with a good view of the marsh. The herons were quite a distance away, so I had my 300mm f/2.8 lens mounted on the camera, along with a 2x teleextender. Coupled with a 1.6x crop sensor on a Canon 7D, this was equivalent to a 960mm focal length. Shot at ISO 800, 1/640th second, at f/5.6.