Black Crowned Night Heron

There is a creek call Drakes Creek right off Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville. It meanders north through the heart of Hendersonville. As it does there are areas where trees have partially blown down and branches are sticking up out of the water. Great Blue Herons, Great White Egrets, Green Herons and Black Crowned Night Herons are just a few of the common resident bird species that make this creek their home.

As I come and go throughout the week I take the short cut passing by Drakes Creek always checking to see if the resident Black Crowned Night Heron is perched on a particularly large dead tree branch that sticks out into the creek near the road. On this day, he was perched on the perfect branch just low enough and near enough to the edge of the creek for me to get a decent photo. This is the image I had tried to capture at a distance in early March, but that image was really not good even though I did post it. This bird species is one of the shorter, stumpier species of Herons obviously. But he is just as determined a fisher as any Great Blue Heron or Great White Egret is. Hope you enjoy this much better image of such a beautiful bird. ENJOY!

Now on a personal note, I have been grounded for a week with a stomach bug which kept me from a major conference for work this coming week. Needless to say, this didn't make me happy, but one has to do what one has to do. It has been a trying few months what with bronchitis, then major dental work and now this bug. But I will bounce back. You can count on that. Twenty years ago today I was involved in a serious accident which left me with many injuries which took weeks and weeks to recover from. But I did recover albeit I was much younger then which probably helped. Now this week, my oldest sister, Linda, experienced a serious trauma while on vacation in Florida. She is currently out of ICU, but has a very long and grueling recovery ahead. I mention this for one reason. I hope you will keep her in your prayers. God Bless.

Great Blue Heron, Evening Light

A warm golden light bathed the green swamps of the main marsh at Mustatatuck on Monday. I pulled my car over next to the side of the main auto tour road and rolled down my window. For a brief moment, just before flying off to a nearby marsh, this Great Blue Heron stood downing his catch, his legs covered in green algae from the heavy swamp waters. Only a mere few feet away stood a Green Heron scanning the same surroundings in hopes of a catch himself. The warm light accentuated the Heron's gorgeous plumage.

I couldn't not share this image with you even though it isn't the sharpest. The sun hanging low in the sky cast shadows over the marsh, while its golden light illuminated areas of the swamp. What contrast. After photographing the Great Blue Heron in the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that vantage point tends to dictate whether the Heron stays in position or flies away as we mere mortals approach. When I photographed the Heron earlier in summer it was well below me in the swampy ditch and I, no doubt, didn't seem so looming. So he allowed me to photograph him for quite some time before I got too close and he flew away. However, on this day I was near eye level with this particular Heron and, no doubt, I must have seemed larger to him. And having just downed a good meal, he decidedly flew away almost immediately. However, he wasn't what I was really after in that swamp. I was really after the Green Heron. Yet, every time I saw this image in my software I would stop. Its warm hues invited me in. And I rarely get a good photo of a Great Blue Heron with his catch. ENJOY!

Green Heron, Mustatatuck NWR

In all of the years I have been visiting Mustatatuck, I had never laid eyes on a Green Heron. Never. I'm sure there were Green Herons present there, but I never saw one. I'd seen many a Great Blue Heron and Great White Egrets, but no Green Heron. I read on one of the birding websites that someone spotted one yesterday so I was looking for him when I drove the auto tour route. And sure enough, there he was in the main marsh along the auto tour standing knee deep in the green swamp water. It was as though he were waiting for me to come along so I could photograph him.

He was a busy guy too. He crept up on quite a few frogs and downed each one quickly only to move on to the next. I was a far distance from him on the road so not all of my images were sharp. These were some of the best ones.

I was amazed at how easy this Green Heron captured each frog time and time again in the short time I sat and watched him from my car. Much more frequently than a Great Blue Heron catches his prey. I suppose being small has its advantages.

There were several Plovers hanging out in the adjacent swamp that I captured some images of which I'll save for another post. It was cooler today and while heavy rain drenched parts of Louisville including around my house, I managed to miss it. As I drove home from southern Indiana today, it was obvious Fall isn't too far around the bend. I got the sense from scanning the landscape from the tiniest hint in the change of colors. Hope your weekend was great. ENJOY!