Of all of the birds I added to my Life List from the Eastern Shore, this is one of my favorites I captured in this 'Birder's Paradise'. This Little Blue Heron has such soft blues in his feathers, but I especially love the cool blues of his head. This wading bird actually is born solid 'white'. As a juvenile he begins to turn blotchy blues all over his body and finally into adulthood turns this beautiful array of blues. The degrees of blue color that make up this gorgeous smaller species of Heron was captured, unbeknownst to me, on my first day out on the western bay side of Chincoteague Island along the shore.
After capturing several images of a Heron the second day out over on the wildlife refuge, I had decided that was going to be the closest I could get to what I learned after looking at those images closely was a Little Blue Heron. I didn't realize that the day before these images, which I thought was a Tricolored Heron, was actually a Little Blue Heron.
If you read my blog, you know I'm not a birding expert. It wasn't until today after heavily cropping these images that I realized the true identify of this bird. After I cropped one of the images really close to see if there was anything in this little guy's mouth, I got to looking at his color, and that's when I realized he was a Little Blue Heron. I had thought he was a Tricolored Heron, but nope, he wasn't. Aside from cropping to see what was up with his bill, his colors intrigued me as they were a little bluer than the Tricolored Heron I saw that day over on the refuge. My new philosophy after this trip . . . take a good long close up look before making the final decision on the species of bird. Nonetheless, he's beautiful. Don't you agree? ENJOY!
PHOTOGRAPHER'S NOTE: I'm on deadline this week with the magazine, so for the first time I am 'scheduling' a post to view the following day after I wrote it. I've never done this before, but will be excited to see if all goes well. Okay, it's the little things in life that really make me happy!
If you read my blog, you know I'm not a birding expert. It wasn't until today after heavily cropping these images that I realized the true identify of this bird. After I cropped one of the images really close to see if there was anything in this little guy's mouth, I got to looking at his color, and that's when I realized he was a Little Blue Heron. I had thought he was a Tricolored Heron, but nope, he wasn't. Aside from cropping to see what was up with his bill, his colors intrigued me as they were a little bluer than the Tricolored Heron I saw that day over on the refuge. My new philosophy after this trip . . . take a good long close up look before making the final decision on the species of bird. Nonetheless, he's beautiful. Don't you agree? ENJOY!
PHOTOGRAPHER'S NOTE: I'm on deadline this week with the magazine, so for the first time I am 'scheduling' a post to view the following day after I wrote it. I've never done this before, but will be excited to see if all goes well. Okay, it's the little things in life that really make me happy!
Very handsome in its adult plumage.
ReplyDeleteOne of the advantages of digital photography Carol .. shoot first and research later.
Little Blue is smiling for you. The soft blue of its feathers is beautiful. You hit the jackpot with birds.
ReplyDelete