Saturday, August 09, 2008

Green Heron: Fishing from a Tree




At 5:00am the irritating sound of my alarm clock roused me from my deep slumber. Staggering into the kitchen in my sleepy stupor I made my way towards the fridge to begin preparing my morning cereal. No, it’s Saturday, and I really don’t have to get up this early! Still stumbling about I returned to the snug comfort of bed. When I awoke again I felt refreshed and the sun was not yet up. Passing the fridge I grabbed a banana, swung the camera bag on my shoulder and snagged the tripod while heading out the door.

Too late to photograph the dawn, I headed instead for the Haines-Seville. While covering the few miles to my destination I realized that I should have taken time to grab a pair of rubber boots as I would be walking some distance through grass and everything was drenched with heavy dew.

Soon after setting out on foot I was soaked to the knees. Before I could get into position I bumped into a flock of wood ducks. Being totally wild birds that are not habituated to humans, they did not hang around; but that is a story for another day. As the first rays of sunlight reached the water I was in position.

Song birds flitted among the willows, a Great Blue Heron winged by, a Wood Duck passed over landing some distance away, soon a Bull Frog surfaced nearby with just his head and eyes protruding above the surface and then I noticed the leaves shaking on a branch overhanging the water.

A glance through the binoculars revealed a Green Heron standing on the limb. After cautiously moving the tripod into position I waited for the Heron to reveal itself.

The little Heron was feeding in a manner which I had never observed before. Instead of wading along the shoreline in search of prey as Herons commonly do, this Heron was walking back and forth on the overhanging branch and spearing its breakfast from its elevated perch.

For more Camera Critters visit Misty at her Camera Critters blog.

17 comments:

Louise said...

Sounds like a wonderful day to me!

Michele said...

Fascinating! I would not have believed if not for this photo! Very nice!
Mountain Retreat

ratmammy said...

what a wonderful story and photo capture! i am surprised it didn't hear you and fly away!

Pat - Arkansas said...

Wonderful photo, and a captivating story, Salty.

Carletta said...

Fantastic photo - I love the reflection!

Gemma Wiseman said...

Sounds like a heavenly day!

But that pic is simply incredible!

bobbie said...

Can't believe you got that photo. It is really great.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: What a treat to make this great capture. This is an amzing photo and I bet you are happy with the results.

Gretchen said...

That's a great capture!

Unknown said...

You paint a great picture with your words Salty.

I've never seen a heron do this either. Probably just wasn't ready to get wet yet. Maybe he thought "its Saturday and I don't have to get wet yet", so decided to just fish from his bed for awhile. :)

Anonymous said...

Very intent. Nice picture.

Jane Hards Photography said...

That's a brilliant catch. Very impressive.

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

Hi Salty! Sounds like you had a good morning. Beautiful photo of the Green Heron. I guess he/she didn't feel like getting it's feet wet. Lisa

Misty DawnS said...

What a spectacular capture! This is absolutely awesome!

judi/Gmj said...

Awesome stuff!! I had to enlarge it to see what it was. :)

Perry said...

I saw one of these little guys today but was not prepared to get a shot of it. Nice critters here!

Christy said...

Beautiful shot of the heron, love the reflection. The butterfly in the previous post is breathtaking.