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Great blue herons, with their large size, stately demeanor, and (sometimes) confiding nature, are staples of nature photography, but I've always found them challenging. They tend to sit in tangled, obscuring vegetation or on ugly, litter-strewn mudflats, or in lovely poses in terrible light. These birds offered reasonable opportunities. The heron in the upper pictures was lurking at a beach in Florida (it was named 'Nixon' by fishing regulars because of its skulking 'I am not a crook' attitude). Other Florida herons include a sun-basking bird and one that speared an 'oscar' (Astronotus ocellatus, a feral South American cichlid fish) in the Everglades. The other photos were taken near Palo Alto, at Santee Lakes, and at Bolsa Chica wetlands in coastal Orange County, all in California, and in New Mexico. |
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