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Boghopper's Heron Page...
These are some photos of members of the bird family-Ardeidae, also known as heron, egrets, and bitterns. Most of these were taken in Florida. Enjoy! |
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Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, FL
Great Blues can stand over 4 feet tall, and love to frequent marshes,swamps, shores, tidal areas. They range from southern Canada to Mexico, and over winterb as far south as South America. It is not uncommon for them to stay thru out most of their range well into the start of winter. I have seen them in parts of Connecticut as late as early december.
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Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, FL
This Great Blue Heron is panting to help stay cool in the hot day. The photo was taken mid day, and the temperaturewas in the nineties. Although taking pictures midday often leaves you with a harshly illuminated, or washed out photo, the use of shadows and contrast can be enhanced it the subject is placed well. |
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Great Egret (Casmerodius alba), Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, FL
A white subject such as this Great Egret can be very difficult to correctly expose. The task is even harder during bright-harsh mid day lighting.
Several techniques that I use to overcome this. Spot metering of the bird if your camera has it, bracket the exposures 1 stop in each direction, meter off the background, not the subject, particularly if the background is a neutral grey/green.
Polarizing lens and neutral density filters can help as well, but they alter the lighting to the subject and background. |
Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorus nyctcorax)
Black-Crowned Night Herons are a nocturnal bird often seen late into dusk or early in the morning. It is about 2 feet tall and inhabits marshes, shores, wetlandsin general. By day it roosts in trees, and the careful observer can sometimes pick them out thru the leaves. This photo was taken under such a condition and uses flash to illuminate the hiding bird. |
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Louisana Heron (Hydranassa tricolor), Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
This Louisana Heron, for those in the know, is also called a tricolored heron for its markings. A quick field identification for it is the white belly, which the other darkly colored herons lack. Note the sqat stance the bird is taking . This is part of its hunting technique. Like a coiled spring it can quickly extend its neck with blinding speed and snatch up an unwary fish from the shallow water below. |
Geat White Heron (Ardea herodias or Ardea occidentalis)
The Great White Heron is considered to be a color morph of the Great Blue Heron. Its range is southern most florida, Cuba, and coastal Yucatan (according to Peterson's Field Guide). Some feel the two color morphs interbreed to produce an intermediate- the "Wurdermanns Heron " where their ranges over lap. Others feel the Wurdermanns is a naturally occurring intermediate of the Great Blue Heron. Our understanding of a species tends to grow slower than our assumptions, which lends to many revisions in biological concepts. Which is what makes biology such an interesting hobby! |
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Little Blue Heron, (Florida caerula)
This Little Blue Heron is in the process of using its powerful shoulder and neck muscles to snatch small fish from the water. An indication of the speed of the process is the spray of water that results.
Photographically, this is one of the shots a bird photographer loves to get. The action is stopped by taking the photo using a high speed shutter release, the slower the shutter release the more blurred the motion would be. The caveat here is to use the lens aperature to compensate for the quick shutter speed, and use the best Iso film for the lighting conditions (ei. bright daylight ISO 50, 64, 100 works well) |
Little Blue Heron (Florida caerulea)
The same Little Blue Heron shown above, just after spraying water with its jack hammer assault on the water. Note few drops of water are still air born. |
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Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)
Similar to the Black-Crowned Night Heron, the Yellow Crowned Night Heron inhabits Cypress Swamps, mangroves, bayous, marshes and streams (Peterson's Field Guide). The predominant field markings used to distinguish it from the Black-Crowned Night Heron is its mostly white crown, and a white cheek patch.
This photo was taken undernatural lighting as the bird roosted during day light hours. A long exposure was required because of the low light in the shaded mangroves. A tell tale sign of this is the blurry, soft background- caused by wind movements of the trees. Luckily, a night heron will remain motionless for long intervals of time, an appears well focused here. |
Reddish Egret(Dichromanassa rufescens)
The Reddish Egret occurs in two color forms, shown here is the Grayish form which has a reddish head. The other form is white w/blue legs. According to Peterson's Guides (by now you must realize these are my golden reference books) the Reddish Egret inhabit coastal tidal flats, salt marshes, shores, and lagoons. Its range includes the gulf states, West Indies, and Mexico.
Although never exceedingly common, the Reddish Egret appears to be declining in numbers in its USA Range. This is probably due to its shyness and loss of habitat to humans (author's observation) |
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Reddish Egret(Dichromanassa rufescens)
The Reddish Egret has a special technique it uses when fishing. It utilizes the natural tendencies of small fish to congregate under overhanging branches. It does this by standing with its wings spread simulating tree branches over the water. When the fish have taaken cover under the "tree" the egret can easily catch them.
In terms of evolution this is probably a coincidence, the real reason for the stance is probably to shade the water so that the egret can see through the glare. Whatever the reasoning, it is a highly effective technique and amazing to watch!
In addition to the shading technique it uses, the Reddish Egret also "dances". Its dance consists of a series of rapid runs through the shallow waters. Often stopping to "shade" the water. The picture is riveting when several Reddish Egrets are performing for you! (The purpose is probably to stir up hiding fish and invertebrates, which then seek shelter in the "shade", the effect to the human audience is simply beautiful!)
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Snowy Egret(Egretta thula)
This is a small white egret, distinguished from other white species by its balck legs and bright yellow feet. These yellow feet are used to stir up food while feeding in shallow waters.(A good guess on the brightly colored feets purpose might be to assist the bird visualizing prey in the murky water as it stirs up the area).
It ranges from northern USA to South America, and inhabits a variety of wetlands including marshes, swamps, ponds, shores, and tidal flats (Peterson's Field Guide).
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Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)
These two photo are the same bird taken by two different methods. They illustrate why "lighting is everything" in photography. Both pictures were taken during daylight. The Picture to the left was taken with flash, note the black background almost giving the impression of night.p> The photo on the right was taken without flash, and makes uses of a very long shutter speed...hence the soft, blurred look to the background. This type of photo is only possible if the subject stays still for a long time or if blurred movement is the goal ( try it with running water like a stream, the effect is similiar to mist over the water. |
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