A few days ago I saw a Great Blue Heron at Colonial Lake in Lawrence Township, NJ in various poses as it preened itself for several minutes. The photos shown below need no explanation.








22 Saturday Apr 2023
Posted colonial lake, Photography
inA few days ago I saw a Great Blue Heron at Colonial Lake in Lawrence Township, NJ in various poses as it preened itself for several minutes. The photos shown below need no explanation.
07 Saturday May 2022
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
canada goose, glossy ibis, great blue heron, hatchling, lesser yellow legs, postaday, red-winged blackbird, willet
The Black-headed Gull comes from Europe and, about fifty years ago, has begun appearing in North America in small numbers. I saw a group of about a dozen of them on Wildlife Drive for the first time last week. They did not seem too shy, like most gulls, and I was able to come close to them.
Other birds that I photographed are well known to most of us.
30 Thursday Dec 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, egret, Fish Crow, great blue heron, great egret, postaday, red-winged blackbird, yellow-rumped warbler
I have looked many times at the following image of a Red-winged Blackbird chasing a much bigger Fish Crow away from the vicinity of its nest. It was actually chasing two Fish Crows, but only one was caught by the camera. Gumption and tenacity are words that apply well to the Red-winged Blackbird.
This year, one big bird was everywhere around the refuge. I shot many pictures and even have one post dedicated to it, Great Blue Heron. However, the following monochrome shot was liked by many.
In November, I saw Yellow-rumped Warblers for the first time. They were eating Juniper berries and did not fly away allowing me to take many shots. Here are two more unpublished until today.
Hundreds of egrets stay at the refuge almost year round from the end of February until December. They spend their time fishing, and sometimes fighting each other, jumping up like ballet dancers.
With so many egrets and other birds , I sometimes wondered whether there ever is enough fish for them. One day a few weeks ago, I looked down into a shallow part of the refuge and saw thousands and thousands of fish swimming around, with not a bird in sight.
This concludes this 2021 Images in Review series. I wish all of you a Great and Happy New Year in 2022!
18 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, great egret, green-winged teal, Northern Shoveler, postaday, ruddy duck
I shot the following photos over the past several weeks. The birds and ducks shown are some of the usual visitors to the refuge during fall and winter.
14 Tuesday Dec 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inYesterday the refuge was mostly deserted. Only a few white egrets remained, the rest having migrated just before the cold arrived. However, there were many ducks which come and stay during the colder months, and Great Blue Herons which do not migrate. I found several of them as soon as I arrived and, when the light was right, got the following shots.
06 Saturday Nov 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in30 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in14 Tuesday Sep 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, great egret, ladybug, postaday, snowy egret, tricolored heron
In one more week, summer will be ending. Some birds have already left the refuge but many remain as warm temperatures still prevail and food is abundant in the marshes. Here are some more shots of the Great Blue Heron shown in monochrome yesterday.
Great and Snowy Egrets, including juveniles born this year are everywhere around the refuge.
A Snowy Egret bristled in warning as a juvenile landed close to it.
There was a new bird for me. It was quite far away, but I think it was a Tricolored Heron.
While scanning the marshes, I saw a brilliant, shiny red spot in the middle of the milkweed. Mating season should be over by now, but two Ladybugs did not get the memo.
13 Monday Sep 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in08 Sunday Aug 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in18 Thursday Feb 2021
Posted Photography
inAs I write this, snow is falling steadily outside, with as much as 9 inches (about 23 cm) expected, and another snowstorm is forecasted for this weekend.
Recently, I saw the following Bluebird at the refuge. It came back too early and looked disappointed at the cold and bleakness of winter.
Nearby, a Great Blue Heron who did not migrate offered some advice.
05 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted Photography
inThis week has been rainy with only one sunny day in the middle. I drove to the refuge and by the time I arrived the sun was out but the clouds were many. The Great Blue Heron that used to stand by a sluice gate was now standing by the water.
There was a flash of white among the dried reeds. A Great Egret took off as soon as it saw me, but I managed to take a few shots of it flying away.
Toward the end of Wildlife Drive one tree still had its leaves on.
14 Saturday Nov 2020
Posted Photography
in26 Saturday Sep 2020
Posted Photography
inA new sluice gate has recently been built on Wildlife Drive at the refuge to channel ocean water into and out of Vogt Pool North. As I drove by a few days ago, a Great Blue Heron was standing guard at the gate and would not budge even as I parked no more than 20 ft (6 m) away from it. There was plenty of morning sunlight and the conditions were perfect for photography.
Seven minutes later, it was still on the same rock, staring into emptiness.
20 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted Photography
in16 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, photography, postaday
The flu has forced me to stay home these past two weeks and I have not gone out to take any picture, or visited your posts as often as before. The following photos are the results of my editing of recent shots of backyard birds that show some different views of the two most common visitors to our feeder in the winter.
About two weeks ago, I also caught a Great Blue Heron jumping around a pond, probably on a fishing expedition.
24 Monday Dec 2018
Posted colonial lake, EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
colonial lake, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, extender, great blue heron, mallard, photography, postaday, snow geese
One of the must-have equipment for wildlife photography in general, and bird photography in particular, is to have a telephoto lens powerful enough to capture subjects with sufficient details and sharpness, without having to come too close to them. Since most of us can’t afford super telephoto lenses, also called second-mortgage lenses, some of us resort to using an extender, which is much less expensive, to increase the reach of our lenses. With a 1.4 extender, a 400 mm lens will be equivalent to a 560 mm lens.
I have had such an extender for two years, but almost never used it because the results had been disappointing especially in terms of sharpness. Finally, looking at photos posted by Jerry from Quiet Solo Pursuits here on WordPress, I decided to give it a try with the Canon 5D Mark IV that I have been using since last year.
Following are some of the shots I took yesterday at the refuge and at Colonial Lake under a bright sun with the 100-400 mm lens and a 1.4 extender.
22 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted Photography
inTags
Black-crowned Night Heron, golden retriever, gosling, great blue heron, great sand dunes national park, lotus, northern cardinal, osprey, photography, postaday, squirrel
The following photos are some of the favorites that you, my WordPress readers, have either liked the posts where they were posted in, clicked on their images to see them in larger size, or mentioned them in your comments.
16 Sunday Dec 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in15 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inFriday morning, a Great Blue Heron was standing in the water at the refuge, looking left then right. As the light was near perfect, I started to photograph it. When it decided to take off and fly away, I just kept pressing the shutter.
08 Saturday Dec 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inA Great Blue Heron held in its bill a small fish that it had caught. A Willet had just caught a bigger fish, and flew up right in front of the heron. I was too far and actually did not see this small drama until I got home and displayed the image on my computer monitor. It looks like the Willet was bragging about its catch, and the heron was by no means happy.
Here’s a closer look.
19 Monday Nov 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in03 Saturday Nov 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inYou won’t believe how many times I have missed capturing, or badly captured, birds in flight. Two days ago, at the refuge, I finally was able to get several good shots of a Great Blue Heron as it took off from the marsh.
On the same day, a Great Egret also put on a good show.
27 Saturday Oct 2018
Posted colonial lake, Photography
inTags
canada goose, colonial lake, crawfish, eastern phoebe, great blue heron, photography, postaday, squirrel
Colonial Lake close to home is quite small, but it has a good variety of wildlife. An old Canada Goose, named Hank by the locals, does not seem to fly any more and enjoys eating the bread crumbs and cookies that people throw to him.
Squirrels are abundant, and at this time of the year they are stocking up on acorns and other wild nuts to prepare for winter.
An Eastern Phoebe had something in its bill, but I couldn’t tell what it was. They usually eat small insects, and sometimes small fruit or seeds.
A Ring-billed Seagull landed with a splash and caught something in its beak.
The champ was a Great Blue Heron who caught three fishes in less than 10 minutes as I photographed him.
19 Wednesday Sep 2018
Posted Photography
inTags
bald eagle, great blue heron, great egret, montezuma national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday, ring-billed gull
Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is at the Northern end of Cayuga Lake, one of the 11 finger lakes in New York state. It is less than a quarter of the size of Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, but has much of the same wildlife, with the addition of Sandhill Cranes and Black Terns that are not usually seen in New Jersey.
We drove on Wildlife Drive through Montezuma NWR, stopping occasionally to take pictures.
A young Bald Eagle surprised me by swooping overhead and diving toward the marshes. It was too fast and moved around too much for me to get good pictures, but the following will give you an idea of the drama evolving in the sky.
However, the young Bald Eagle failed to catch any fish.
There were several Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets that landed near Wildlife Drive then stood or walked in the water.
There were many Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese at Montezuma NWR. One gull was hovering over the marshes and crisscrossing the sky, asking to be photographed.
24 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in31 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted Photography
inThe URL for this challenge is:Â https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/
This is my third and final submission.
The following photo has not yet been published previously.
02 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inThis Great Blue Heron was catching fish literally left and right. In the five minutes I spent photographing it, it managed to snatch five fishes out of the water. They were small but enough of them would be equal to a big catch. When I left, it was still looking for fish.
10 Sunday Sep 2017
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inThere must have been at least a hundred Egrets and several Great Blue Herons at the refuge yesterday. They were very active fishing and flying from spot to spot, a golden opportunity for me to capture more BIF photos.
Here’s a sequence of a Great Blue Heron taking off.
28 Friday Apr 2017
Less than two months ago, I posted photos of a Great Blue Heron under Fish for Lunch. Today, I saw another Great Blue Heron wading carefully in a pool at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge near Smyrna, DE. I had my camera aimed and focused on it for at least five minutes, but it kept advancing step by step, catching no fish at all.
Suddenly it turned around.
The following images perhaps need no narrative.
05 Sunday Mar 2017
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inWhen I left the house this morning to go to the recently reopened Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, it was 17 °F (-8 °C), perhaps too cold for the birds to show up. Sure enough there were not many, and most of them were seagulls that live there throughout the year.
However, just as I was about to leave the refuge, I saw a Great Blue Heron catching a fish for lunch.
All of the above, and some other intervening action, mostly shaking and turning (not displayed here), took less than a minute.
09 Tuesday Feb 2016
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
inTags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, hooded merganser, northern pintail, photography, postaday
He was standing on a bank of the marshes, his back turned to me, his face to the water. I stopped to take his picture, and as I aimed my camera at him, he turned around, a severe look on his face.
So I drove on. The tide was falling, and water from the marshes was pouring out toward the ocean. At one of the outlets, I found a Hooded Merganser swimming by himself, coming very close to where I was, as if he had not noticed me. This was the closest I had ever been to these usually shy ducks.
There were female Hooded Mergansers in the vicinity, but they were paired with other males. None paid any attention to our handsome bachelor!
I moved on to another pond and saw a pair of Northern Pintails busy in their favorite pursuit: dabbling in shallow water to find plants and crustaceans to eat.
After a while, they paused and struck a classic pose, with water still dripping from the male’s bill.
28 Monday Dec 2015
Posted Photography
inTags
canada goose, egret, great blue heron, house wren, nuthatch, osprey, photography, postaday, red fox, snow geese
I take a lot of pictures of wildlife, so Part 3 of this series will be about the birds and animals that I have seen through my camera.
09 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted Photography
inGreat Blue Herons are large enough birds that I found it relatively easy to photograph them in flight. Here are some photos I took at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge a few days ago. They are of three different herons.
All of the above herons flew only short distances to position themselves at a different fishing spot. They probably never went higher than 20 ft (6 m) above the surface of the pond.
08 Tuesday Dec 2015
Posted Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge
inTags
blue jay, brown pelican, cardinal, eyes spy, great blue heron, mourning dove, photography, postaday, red fox, tufted titmouse, weekly photo challenge
The link for this challenge is:Â https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/eye-spy/
When I photograph birds and animals, I try to get a good eye expression, or at least get their eyes in clear focus. Here are my entries for the challenge, all from photos taken this year, some as recently as yesterday.
07 Monday Dec 2015
Posted Photography
inTrue to their name, Great Blue Herons are the largest herons in North America with striking shapes and colors that are hard to miss. Yesterday I saw a dozen of them at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge on the other side of I-95, opposite Philadelphia Airport. Despite the near freezing temperature, they were busy catching their breakfast.
The above fellow or gal was very skilled. It caught three fish within 13 minutes!
Later I saw another Great Blue Heron catching frogs.
Here’s a shot of a Great Blue Heron spreading its wings. Despite their enormous size, these herons weigh only about 6 lbs (2.7 kg).
26 Wednesday Aug 2015
Posted Photography
inTags
edwin b forstythe national wildlife refuge, great blue heron, great egret, photography, postaday
Two days ago, a Great Blue Heron was stalking fish at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
I saw it repeatedly stab at something in the water, but never saw it catch anything, unless it swallowed its prey even before coming up for air.
Meanwhile, a nearby Great Egret had better luck and seemed to enjoy its tossed fish.