Kayak Day

Great Blue Heron takes flight.

Yes, today was kayak day.  Been waiting for the right weather and today was just gorgeous with high pressure moving in, temperatures in the low 70's.  The wind was just a little too brisk, which makes it difficult to orient the kayak correctly for taking pictures.  I noticed the ospreys weren't having much luck today either as the light chop on the water makes it difficult for them to spot fish.

I took about 350 pictures.  The osprey were quite active, but the great blue herons were spectacular so today will be just the herons.

The great blue heron is a large bird, probably about an 8 foot wing span, and they are found mostly in the shallow water around the mangroves.  I startled this one and was just able to get his takeoff.  I had the Sigma 120-400mm zoom on the Nikon D40, which turned out to be just about right for today's photo shoot.  This picture was taken at f/4.5, 1/250 sec., ISO-200, and focal length was 120 mm.

In fishing mode.

In the second picture, this is a great blue standing in shallow water amongst the mangroves.  Typically, they will wait for their prey to swim by and will spear it with its bill, then swallow it whole.

This picture was taken at f/4.5, 1/160 sec., ISO-200, and 120 mm focal length.

Wings spread and facing the sun.

In the third picture, this heron has its wings splayed facing the sun as if it were drying them, but I'm not sure that's what he's actually doing.  When I came upon him he had his wings spread like this and he remained in this position for a good 5 minutes or so, never made any attempt to fly away, even though I approached to within a few yards.

This area of the Indian River Lagoon is totally undeveloped so wildlife is plentiful.  You can move around in the mangroves from island to island all day long and not see another boat or human being.  If you like unspoiled, natural habitat, this is the place for you.

Exposure detail is as follows:  f/5.3, 1/500 sec., ISO-200, 185 mm focal length.

And finally, I had to include a close up to show off the full capability of this lens.  You can even see the feathers in its beak from where it had been grooming.  These are truly magnificent birds.  By the way, I managed to survive without getting any of the equipment wet!  Not as easy as you might think.  Exposure:  f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO-200, 400 mm!

I'll put the osprey show up next.

Great Blue Heron closeup. Ardea Herodias.