Workin’ It on Wordless Wednesday

Great blue heron working those leg and wing muscles.

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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.

Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Work prompt.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Last but not least, thanks once more to Michelle for her Weekly Pet Challenge.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron

Swan Song?

Great blue heron standing atop an abandoned swans’ nest.

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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks to Cee for her Fun Foto Challenge: Large prompt. (The great blue heron is large. The swans’ nest is larger.)

Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Wood prompt. (The abandoned swans’ nest was built from wood, some dead, some living, as you can see.)

Thanks to Michelle for her Weekly Pet Challenge.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Channeling the Maestro

Great blue heron conducting the orchestra.

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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Dry prompt. (The only dry thing about this photo is my sense of humor!)

Thanks again to Sue for her Word A Week: Figure challenge. (The maestro cuts a dashing figure, no?)

Thanks to Michelle for her Weekly Pet Challenge.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Channeling Julius Caesar

Same great blue heron, same day.

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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks once again to Michelle for the Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge prompt.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron

A Great Blue Heron is Most Like a Cat When…

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.  

Thich Nhat Hanh,
Peace is Every Step

Great blue heron has caught a small pike after stalking it like a cat.

Great blue heron about to strike.

Have you ever watched a cat stalking something? You might have noticed the cat “triangulating” on the prey if the prey is still. Because cats can’t see entirely motionless critters well (or perhaps at all), the cat will itself move in order to pinpoint the precise location where it needs to pounce.

And just before the cat pounces, you may notice that often the cat hunkers down, raising its butt while lowering its head, then shifting its weight on rear paws from side to side.

Great blue herons sometimes do that same maneuver before striking. As you can see in the animation I’ve created here, the heron’s head is very nearly motionless, while its neck and body sway from side to side as it fixes on the location of the pike it is stalking. The heron then lowered its head, raised its tail, and struck with lightning speed.

It was a lucky strike because, as the top photo here shows, the heron just barely caught the pike – the fish was easily a foot long, but the heron only was able to grasp the end of the pike’s mouth. The heron easily swallowed the pike in one gulp. Happy heron!

I can remember the first time I observed a heron stalking using that cat-like sequence like it was only yesterday. Watching through the binoculars, I saw the heron sway from side to side, raise its butt, lower its head and then strike below the surface, and I broke into a big smile when I realized it was hunting just like my cats. Who knew?!

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Thanks again to Cee for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Happy.

Thanks once more to Ese for her Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote: Happiness prompt.

Thanks once more to Ailsa for her Weekly Travel Theme: Still prompt. How is it that the heron can hold its head so utterly still while the rest of its body sways from side to side? I find that fascinating.

Thanks also to Michelle for her Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge prompt.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Cats

When is a Great Blue Heron Most Like a Dog?

Happiness is a warm puppy.

Charles Schultz
Peanuts

Great blue heron does a whole body shake to shed water, just like a wet dog.

When dogs shake off water, the movement starts at their snout, and
if you grab their nose, supposedly they can’t complete the shake.

I wonder – do you suppose that grabbing the heron’s bill would do the same?

Happy Irish Wolfhound Falcor and happy friend.

If only Falcor would go into the pond and get wet, then we could grab his snout and test that wet dog theory about blocking the shake by grabbing his muzzle.

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Thanks to Ed for the Sunday Stills: Going to the Dogs prompt.

Thanks again to Cee for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Happy.

Thanks once more to Ese for her Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote: Happiness prompt.

Thanks once more to Ailsa for her Weekly Travel Theme: Brown prompt. Falcon is light brown, on a medium-brown throw on his special chair.

Thanks also to Michelle for her Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge prompt.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

(These photos were taken September 11, 2011.)

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Irish Wolfhound

Great Blue Heron Asks Where Did I Leave My Glasses Erm Dragonfly

Great blue heron fledgling wondering where he put his glasses, erm dragonfly.

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File this one under just for fun!

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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.

Thanks to Ese for her Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge: Memories prompt. “Now,,where did imput my glasses, erm dragonfly?” the heron asked, wondering where his memory has gone. Often, I wonder about their memories, the herons.

Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks again to Cee for the Fun Foto Challenge prompt.

Thanks again to Michelle for the Weekly Pet Roundup prompt.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

(This photo was taken August 29, 2007.)

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Dragonfly

Beautiful Great Blue Heron in the Rain for Wordless Saturday

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Thanks to CosmicGirlie for hosting Silent Sunday.

Thanks to Ed Prescott for the Sunday Stills: Favorite prompt. (No secret that great blue herons are a favorite model of mine.)

Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Fragrant. (The Great Blue Heron seemed to be smelling the fragrant flowers there in the cove in the rain that morning.)

A thank-you to Michelle for the Weekly Pet Challenge Roundup nudge.

Thanks once again to Stewart Moncton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks to the kind folks at NaBloPoMo for the National Blog Posting Month challenge this November.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

(This photo was taken August 14, 2011.)

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron

Our Guest Heron Du Jour: It’s Easy Being Green (Green Heron, That Is)

The Green Heron skulked about on the shoreline, seeking out small frogs for dinner, oblivious to the fox sniffing around the dock not fifteen feet away. The heron’s cap feathers were fully erect as though it was alarmed, but it kept on rooting in the muck as though a nearby fox was an everyday happening.

Great Blue Heron and Green Heron posing.

I was mesmerized the first time I saw a Green Heron – by the heron, but also by the fox. I had seen neither of them before in the cove, and I didn’t know which to photograph, and so I alternated between them.

The fox seemed unaware of the green heron, and paid no heed to the mallard ducks paddling off the end of the dock. He was on the scent of something on land, not water.

The green heron poked and prodded in the muck at water’s edge, pulling out small frogs. Apart from erecting his cap feathers to make himself appear larger, less vulnerable to predators, he seemed oblivious to the fox not fifteen feet away and kept on poking the muck as though a nearby fox was normal.

There’s little that is green about it, and with erect cap feathers channelling Don King’s hair, the green heron looked like the Rodney Dangerfield of herons. I found it an amusing little bird, and watched intently, wondering exactly why it was called “green” and what made it a heron?

My question was answered in part when the preening green heron assumed the pose shown in the photo at top here. Brings to mind an odd sort of “separated at birth” comparison.

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Thanks once again to Stewart Moncton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks also to Sue for the Word a Week Challenge: Pose.

Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Short. (The Green Heron is so short, it’s hard to imagine it having much in common with the Great Blue Herons.)

Thanks to the kind folks at NaBloPoMo for the National Blog Posting Month challenge this November.

And thanks also to Michelle for the Weekly Pet Challenge Roundup nudge.

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A selection of my heron and flower photos are now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Green Heron, Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron For Wordless Saturday

Great blue heron taking flight from a bed of pickerel weed.

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Thanks again to the kind folks at NaBloPoMo for the National Blog Posting Month challenge this November.

Thanks again to Stewart Moncton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.

Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Delicate. (How delicate the purple blossoms and their heart-shaped leaves.)

And thank-you once more as well to Michelle for the Weekly Pet Challenge Roundup nudge.

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Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)