Many times Mother Nature leaves me speechless and in awe. That was the case when I visited the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and got the opportunity to witness first hand some magnificent creatures.  Few were more magnificent than this Great Blue Heron. The colors and textures were a sight to behold. The herons were coming and going from their nesting area and I was able to capture many of them in flight. I was especially impressed with their ability to land in such a small area. In this case, it was a nest.

Great blue herons are the most common and largest of North American herons. They range in size from about 3 feet to almost 5 feet tall. Their wingspan ranges from 5 feet to seven feet. They don’t weigh much (between 5 and 7 pounds) and can cruise at 25-30 miles per hour. They feed mostly on fish but will sometimes eat mice.

Great Blue Heron

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark III using my Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sports Lens set on 569 mm. The camera was set on Aperture priority mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/500th of a second and the ISO set at 125. I kind of got lucky on this one. As I mentioned in a previous post, these are the wrong settings for bird photography. The camera should have been on Manual Mode with Auto ISO (100-1,600), aperture set at around f/8 and the shutter speed not less than 1/1250th of a second.

This image is best when viewed large. Click on the image to enlarge it. Also, you can access the profile for this bird by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.

© 2016 T. Kahler Photography

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