Stretch to the Sky

Lumix G1, Lumix 100-300mm

A nesting Great Blue Heron enjoys a stretch break.

--Warren

Blue Heron Mug Shot

Lumix G5, Lumix 100-300mm

It was looking straight at me. Straight-on shots are fun and often funny-looking  :) This was taken at the same time as the previous heron picture.

--Warren

Concentration

Lumix G5, Lumix 100-300mm

I often see this Great Blue Heron at Golden Gate Park near the Polo Fields. I wondered why he would stand right next to the road and totally ignore the passing cars, joggers, and walkers. The other day, I brought my camera with me and saw him there again, and I found out why. It's because he is too busy concentrating on hunting gophers! In this picture, he is staring at a gopher hole waiting for the gopher to stick its little head out of the hole. I watched as he snatched one out of the hole and fly away, but it all happened too fast for me to get a picture of that. But I did get some while he was being very still.

--Warren

Crayfish Dinner

Lumix GF1, Lumix 100-300mm

This little lake is a favorite hunting place for Great Blue Herons. I went back here recently and saw this heron catch two crayfish for its dinner. :) It simply swallowed them whole!

--Warren

Crayfish #1

Crayfish #2

Great Blue Heron in Golden Gate Park

Lumix G5, Lumix 100-300mm

I was shooting this Great Blue Heron right before I took those photos of the hawk.

I was wondering what that interesting looking vegetation was in the lake. It seems to be taking over the entire surface of the lake.

--Warren

Heron in a Tree

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 45-200mm

Maybe I'll venture out there one of these evenings with my 500mm :).

The herons nest here every year on an island at Stow Lake.

--Warren

Great Blue Heron in Sausalito

Panasonic DMC-G1, Lumix 45-200mm

This is the Blue Heron that I was stalking in Dan's previous post. I brought my G1 w/45-200mm along on the shoot, in anticipation of an opportunity like this one :).

We walked the "non-tourist" shoreline of Sausalito, seeing various piers and shipyards. Our theme was "Nautical".

I also shot a partial roll of Ektar 100 in my Nikon F4s. It's the first time that I tried this film. I'll post some shots when I get the roll processed one of these days.

--Warren

Blue Heron on Far Bank

Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville is a nice place to visit on a sunny Sunday morning - well, not the dead people's part, but the large duck pond on the edge of the grounds.

The pond has a large permanent population of various kinds of ducks and geese. Like much of the mid-Atlantic, formerly migratory Canada geese have made a permanent home here.

If you get here early enough, you may luck out and spot a blue heron who also makes his home here.

This place is only about a half-mile from my mom's place, so I've been bringing my camera whenever I go to see her, in case I have a few minutes to stop and see my feathered friends.