Blue Crane...... drying off.

As always..... these birds are always a safe distance away and with tons of open ground between them and me......... long lens time (again!)

Taken from a way off... if nothing else, I like the gnarled trees (smiles).

Always appreciated your comments and advice.

Hi Grayham - just so you know: this is a Great Blue Heron, it is NOT a crane. Also, as a hint for next time - I don't know where you are located, but in areas where these birds have grown accustomed to people, either on foot or in cars, if you have time, you may want to hang around for a bit. Once the birds accept your presense, they will often come much closer, if you remain quiet and still. I've managed to capture a number of GBH simply by sitting on a rock or waiting inside my car until the bird considers me a part of the landscape. Of-course, this only works in areas where many people pass. .

Thanks for stopping by. Over the years, I have found that naming conventions differ from author to author (book to book) and when in doubt they use an aka (also known as).

In my first posting of this bird, I used Michael Morcombe's Field Guide to Australian Birds. This bird is listed as a White-faced Heron. In the Dept of Conservations pocket guide to Waterbirds of south-west Wetlands, it has an aka of Blue Crane. In neither book did I find a reference to the Great Blue Heron... hence my first paragraph....... your reference books are different to mine.

No matter, in spite of the name difference, I hope you liked my capture of this big bird (smiles).

Best regards

Grayham is, of-course, quite correct and I am quite embarrassed! For some stupid reason, I assumed the image was made in North America and thus this would be a Great Blue Heron, not a white faced crane (we have no such bird in my area of the US). This was a case of speaking before thinking, for which I apologize. Grayham, I do like this image!

Irene

All good. I too have done the same thing (more than once) and tend to forget that the whole World is not Australia (smiles).

Thank you for your lovely email.

Best regards 

Hi Grayham,

Nice pose on the crane with even lighting if a little bit subdued.  I too like the tree in the background and even the greenery.  I am struggling to get good backgrounds with my bird shots and this one is great.  Thanks for the introduction to this crane.  Like the other commenter I have never seen it before.  Regards

Thank you for your kind comments. Birding invariably involves bland background skies.... just by the nature of the subject. So when opportunities like this one come along, it's nice to take full advantage of the detailed background, instead of isolating the subject with DoF blur.

Thanks for stopping by.

Regards 

Well captured. Super textures

Thank you for your kind comments, and for stopping by.

Regards