Over the last few years,with a lot of practice and even more patience I've managed to get pretty close to a couple of different species of birds,especially herons,which is why my portfolio has quite a few images of them. On this day I had slowly and incrementally inched my way closer to the animal by stopping for a minute and then moving up a bit each time over a period of about 20 minutes. Sometimes I'm happy if I get 3 or 4 inches per advance. Because the tide was low,the rocks I was standing on were covered with green slime and were very slippery. My last advance caused a rock to slip and crash downward which spooked this beautiful blue heron. This one actually fell off his rock perch and fell right in head first which caused the square-like splash of water to come up. I lucked out to capture the exact moment it unfolded it's 7 foot wingspan to try and regain it's balance to no avail. I'm sure if birds could talk this one might have commented about this rarely seen embarrasing little nature episode. Doh!
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John McCracken 21 Sep 2008
Great shot!! I have also been photographing Herrons, they are magnificent birds.Holly Ribordy 09 Feb 2008
great timing on this one!! beautiful feathers..Chris Williams 04 Feb 2008
a brilliant idea well doneJean M. Laffitau 04 Feb 2008
Great capture Michael!!Ann-Marie Bentham 31 Jan 2008
Wow!!!!