# A Heron's Ode to CoastalConn



## sm4him (Sep 16, 2014)

I went up to a local dam this weekend and watched the black-crowned night herons fish in the waters below the dam. They love this spot at this time of year, right after Labor Day, because TVA starts opening the floodgates to bring down the lake levels, so the water below the dam rises and there are fish aplenty for the herons. There were a few Great Blue herons as well, but not as many as usual, because they prefer it if the water is shallow enough for some rocks to be exposed.

1. THIS is the one that decided to pay homage to our resident Master of Bird Photography. It reminded me of the recent photo Kris got of an Osprey that was coming fast and hard toward the water, talons outstretched. Of course, a Black-Crowned Night Heron does not come across as nearly such an imposing figure when it strikes this pose, plus it had the disadvantage of NOT having its picture taken by Kris--it had to make do with me. 



Heron Talons by sm4him, on Flickr

2. The Eyes Have It. Kris also recently had this incredible/awesome/kinda gross picture of an Osprey with a fish eye. This one isn't nearly as, umm, "dramatic", and the fish eye is still attached to the fish, but it did remind me of his photo (which, come to think of it, seems like a bad thing, that my photos just serve to remind me of someone else's work!)



Night Heron With Catch by sm4him, on Flickr

The rest aren't necessarily related to any of cc's photos, just fun heron shots.

3. Catching Lunch



Lunch time by sm4him, on Flickr

4. Food Fight!



Food Fight! by sm4him, on Flickr

5. Missing a Toe
This guy must have gotten his foot stuck between a rock and a hard place.



Black-Crowned Night Heron by sm4him, on Flickr

6. Coming At Ya



Creepig Up on You by sm4him, on Flickr

7. Down The Hatch



Down The Hatch by sm4him, on Flickr

As always, C&C, general comments and witty banter are STILL encouraged, even with the new TPF interface!


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## baturn (Sep 16, 2014)

Very nice, Sharon! If I had to pick it would be a toss-up between the 2nd and 3rd.


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## MSnowy (Sep 16, 2014)

Great set!


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## robbins.photo (Sep 16, 2014)

Beautiful set, just amazing captures!


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## pgriz (Sep 16, 2014)

Sharon, I think Kris is beginning to hear footsteps getting closer....

Wonderful set.  Both fun and awe-inspiring.


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## coastalconn (Sep 16, 2014)

LOL, your too kind... I think you did nice job Sharon.  I wish I could visit your Heron spot!  I like #1 and #7 the best.  Looks like the light was pretty tough judging by the ISO.  I have seen exactly 1 BCNH in all of my travels and it was only a fly by...


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## jkzo (Sep 17, 2014)

excellent capture of herons in action.... i like all of them


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## Raj_55555 (Sep 17, 2014)

Awesome captures Sharon , just love the pose in the first one.. and the expression of the fish in the second one is too funny.  And the last one is just fantabulous, you caught it mid blink (the nictitating membrane is visible) and mid juggling food..  I've recently found a new place where cormorants meet by the hundreds, and this was just the motivation I needed to head out looking for a few good shots..


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## pthrift (Sep 17, 2014)

Very nice set- some quality work involved here. 


I cannot get flickr to cooperate- what did you shoot all these with?


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## annamaria (Sep 17, 2014)

Nice set ! One, two and seven for  me.  The expression of the fish is really funny.


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

Wow, thank you everyone! 



pgriz said:


> Sharon, I think Kris is beginning to hear footsteps getting closer....
> 
> Wonderful set.  Both fun and awe-inspiring.



Thank you for that incredible compliment, but if Kris is hearing footsteps, I'm pretty sure they are NOT mine. I just get lucky sometimes.


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

coastalconn said:


> LOL, your too kind... I think you did nice job Sharon.  I wish I could visit your Heron spot!  I like #1 and #7 the best.  Looks like the light was pretty tough judging by the ISO.  I have seen exactly 1 BCNH in all of my travels and it was only a fly by...



Thanks, Kris! I wish you could visit my heron spot too!! Because then I could spend a day shooting with you!!

The lighting was HORRIBLE. I almost didn't bother to go, in fact, because it was so cloudy, and not "good for photography" kind of cloudy. Big thick dark clouds, and raining off and on.  But I knew the water level would be rising and suspected the herons would be fishing (and had kind of hoped a few eagles would have returned, too, but didn't see any--did see one Osprey with a HUGE fish, but too far away for a shot).  I also knew I wouldn't be able to go THIS weekend so I just decided to go, figuring the worst outcome would be no decent pictures, and it's not like I haven't dealt with THAT before!

Funny, before I started doing bird photography, I had no idea such a thing as black- and yellow-crowned night herons even existed! I've still only seen one yellow-crowned, but it turns out the black-crowned are reasonably common around here.  And they are highly entertaining!


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

pthrift said:


> Very nice set- some quality work involved here.
> 
> 
> I cannot get flickr to cooperate- what did you shoot all these with?



Thanks, pthrift!  I shoot with a Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 150-500 lens.  I *should* have used my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 with the 1.4x TC on these, since I was close enough to probably get away with that, but alas, that lens was sitting on my kitchen counter where I'd set it down in order to get one more cup of coffee before I left. 



Raj_55555 said:


> Awesome captures Sharon , just love the pose in the first one.. and the expression of the fish in the second one is too funny.  And the last one is just fantabulous, you caught it mid blink (the nictitating membrane is visible) and mid juggling food..  I've recently found a new place where cormorants meet by the hundreds, and this was just the motivation I needed to head out looking for a few good shots..



Thanks, Raj! The last one is probably my favorite overall, because of the way the fish is in mid-air in its mouth, and the fact that you can see its nictitating membrane.  You should definitely go check out your cormorant site; they can be fun to watch too, and ANYtime you have a bunch of birds like that together, you have a great opportunity for some good interaction between them.


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## robbins.photo (Sep 17, 2014)

sm4him said:


> Thanks, pthrift!  I shoot with a Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 150-500 lens.  I *should* have used my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 with the 1.4x TC on these, since I was close enough to probably get away with that, but alas, that lens was sitting on my kitchen counter where I'd set it down in order to get one more cup of coffee before I left. .



Faced with a dilemma that is as old as time itself.  Which is more important, coffee or photography.


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

robbins.photo said:


> Faced with a dilemma that is as old as time itself.  Which is more important, coffee or photography.



Ha! THAT's not a dilemma. Coffee wins, Every. Single. Time.  Because without coffee, there will BE no photography from me.


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## tirediron (Sep 17, 2014)

Really outstanding set Sharon!  Agree on the coffee issue too.


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## pgriz (Sep 17, 2014)

sm4him said:


> Wow, thank you everyone!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you for that incredible compliment, but if Kris is hearing footsteps, I'm pretty sure they are NOT mine. I just get lucky sometimes.



Uh-huh.  You do know that successful people make their own luck?  It's nice to be humble, but you're allowed a few toots of the horn from time to time.  Because you ARE very, very good.  Now admit it to yourself.


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## DarkShadow (Sep 17, 2014)

I been doing a lot a night fishing bluefish and striped bass and seen some Black Crowned night herons just sitting on a dock around 20 yards and they never moved when I shinned my flash light in there face but of course no camera. Beatiful set of Heron shots.


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

pgriz said:


> Uh-huh.  You do know that successful people make their own luck?  It's nice to be humble, but you're allowed a few toots of the horn from time to time.  Because you ARE very, very good.  Now admit it to yourself.



<toot>
Okay there, that's enough of that. Okay, I'll admit it--sometimes, I'm like a TWO-armed drunken monkey with a camera.


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## sm4him (Sep 17, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> I been doing a lot a night fishing bluefish and striped bass and seen some Black Crowned night herons just sitting on a dock around 20 yards and they never moved when I shinned my flash light in there face but of course no camera. Beatiful set of Heron shots.



It's funny, MOST of the places I see them, they are actually pretty quick to fly off before you get too close. But this particular spot, I can get within about 20-25 feet of them. They might take off initially, but they'll return within just a few minutes, once I get settled in and quit moving around.


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## Parker219 (Sep 17, 2014)

Action shots like this are really cool!

I wonder if you could reduce the noise and still keep the detail on some of these?


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## pjaye (Sep 17, 2014)

Fantastic shots Sharon!


pgriz said:


> Because you ARE very, very good.  Now admit it to yourself.



And THIS.


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## Derrel (Sep 17, 2014)

Proving once again that it's always better to GO than to sit at home and fret about less-than-ideal lighting conditions! Some good shots, and some tasty-looking small,beautiful,silvery fish that look like they're good eating and sized right for catching and consuming.


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## BillM (Sep 17, 2014)

Beautiful set Sharon, wish we had some of those around here !!!


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## Woodsman (Sep 17, 2014)

Beautiful bird and series


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## Hunter58 (Sep 20, 2014)

Nice fishing shots.  I rarely see more than one adult at a time with the Black-crowned.


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## dannylightning (Sep 20, 2014)

great shots.


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