photoartflightGreat Blue Heron’s Breakfast
Posted on September 1, 2014
I went this morning to the Celery Farm Natural Area to see if I could find anything going on. It was a very dull overcast morning with low light. There were a few Great Egrets going back & forth, a Kingfisher off in the distance and a few Great Blue Herons, along with some ducks. We saw this Great Blue Heron off to the left, in the water. He caught a fish, but got it speared on the end of his beak, and started to go off down the channel. This is one of the few times I have seen a Great Blue do this. Usually they catch and swallow their meal fairly quickly, unless it is really large. This Great Blue looked like it was heading to shore to deal with his meal.
Rainy Day At the Celery Farm Natural Area
Posted on August 1, 2014
Last Sunday I went to the Celery Farm Natural Area even though it was raining lightly and overcast. Did not expect to see much, but thought I could find something for the blog. There were a few Canada Geese and a few Great Blue Herons. The light was terrible and raining slightly. I did see this Great Blue Heron, in a rather dark area under trees, through the tree branches. I tried shooting through an opening the leaves, framing the Great Blue in an opening in the closer foliage, using the closer out of focus leaves as a soft colorful border for the image.
Canada Geese Leaving. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/640 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 800
Great Blue Heron on Duck Box. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/320 sec, -1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 800, Increased contrast & saturation in Adobe Camera Raw to get rid of some of the lower contrast of the haze and and rain.
Floating Feather against gray sky reflection. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/640 sec, -0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 800
Great Blue Heron Coming In!
Posted on June 29, 2014
This Great Blue Heron was way across the lake and was not far from the opposite shoreline. After hearing a loud bang, probably a firecracker, it flew right into us. I thought it was an interesting landing series of photos.I just selected a few out of the 30 or so in the series.
Great Blue Heron Landing. #12 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon 2X Series II Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Great Blue Heron Landing. #13 in the sequence. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS lens, Canon Series II 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO 640
Summer Reflections
Posted on February 4, 2014
I found these files from the Summer on my laptop. I had gone to the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ to look for macro subjects, but the first subject I found was this Great Blue Heron. I liked the reflections of the Great Blue Heron in the water. I was using a 150mm macro, but for the Heron I added a 2X teleconverter for a 300mm f/5.6. After watching and photographing the Great Blue for about a half an hour I moved on and went for a walk to find other subjects.
Who’s Looking at Me!
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, Sigma 2X Teleconverter, f/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800
Looking for Breakfast
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, Sigma 2X Teleconverter, handheld, f/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800
Closeup
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, f/8, 1/50 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
Feather on Path
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro,handheld, f/8, 1/30 sec.
Closeup
Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 OS Macro, handheld, f/8, 1/60 sec, +0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 400
One of the Last to Leave
Posted on December 10, 2013
I took a walk around the Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale NJ, early Sunday morning. The lake and streams were pretty much frozen over. It was 27˚ and was very quiet around the frozen lake. I came upon this Great Blue Heron along this little stream of moving water. It was one of the only unfrozen sections with open water. I think he was looking for a meal and seemed totally unconcerned with me being close by. I took a few shots and then moved on so I did not disturb or stress him. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, 70-300mm DO IS f/4-5.6 @ 200mm, f/8 , @ 1/50 sec, ISO 1250, -0.67 exposure compensation.
This Great Blue Heron had a couple of friends keeping him company in this small section of open water.
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