DocAndersen
I promised pictures of the Heron from Indiana. When we lived in Indiana, we were right on one of the four neighborhood retention ponds. The reality of building homes where it once was farmland, is you create a water problem. Renting ponds are built to remove that specific issue. The pond butted up to the back of our yard. The Heron used to fish the shore, starting in the shallow area at one end of our yard and moving across our back yard and our neighbor’s back yard. The interesting part of this picture shows the Heron waiting. He or She is not fishing at this particular time; They were waiting! Feel free to add fun captions for the pictures in the comments!
I spent many hours taking pictures of the Herons over the years. They are magical creatures. First off, they are patient. They walk slowly so as not to disturb the water and the mud. Slowly. Our back yard had roughly 70 yards or 210 feet of water footage. The Heron would start at the sandbar on one end, and it would take them most of the day to make it to where the pictures were taken that I am sharing. The time they spent going across the yard slowly, step two, three, and four times before actually putting their foot in the water. They would often be started and would fly off for 20 minutes or so during that period, and would start over sometimes.
Sometimes they just resumed where they had been. We would see them catch fish because of their patience. These are called “Great Blue Herons” and are native to the Midwestern United Stations (Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and a few others). Herons fish by slowly walking int the water, and when little minnows swim by, they quickly reach down and grab them. They are often called in water fishers. There are many other birds they fish by dive-bombing. Flying above the water and then plugging down to catch fish. Or there are animals like Geese and Ducks that swim on the surface and then submerge into the theater for prey and food. But herons fish like humans on the bank of the water!
That bird could be waiting a long time.
i suspect he or she did wait a long time.
How beautiful. I have never photographed a heron.
i guess I got lucky they are very hard to photo they don’t like people!
what a lovely shot! The heron is a beautiful bird.
thanks i had a lot of time to sit and wait and get the picture!