First time I ever saw a Green Heron, and I was able to photograph it

Sometimes we are involved doing one thing, when something different comes along and we completely change our focus. I’d been taking some pictures of a happening for the local paper, when I saw a bird I had never noticed before.

Birds were still fairly new to me, I was just learning them, and I had not realized that we had this small diminutive heron living in our area. I had no idea who or what it was, only that it was some type of heron. So I switched gears and began photographing a new species (for me). When I got home that afternoon I looked it up and found out that it was a Green Heron.

This is how I learned birds in those days. Photographing them, and then looking them up once I had a chance in my field guides. Same with plants, flowers, rocks, and more. I strove to get the most meaningful images of them, but I was also trying to just capture a record of everything so that I could learn more. Photography isn’t just about capturing images and expanding other people’s worlds, it is also about discovery and expanding our own.

This particular Green Heron began hunting a small tidal slough outside of one of our local oyster farms. One of its chicks was also there, hunting, learning from its parent (I took pictures of it too). I captured them with 420mm of lens at f/8.0 and a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second. This way I was able to capture them from a distance without disturbing them. The fast shutter speed kept the lens shake from becoming an issue, and allowing me to capture a crisp image.

For more images of Green Herons, here is a photo essay of them.