Day 100: Great Blue Heron Rookery Photo Shoot!

What a great way to spend the 100th day of my year long bird photography project. After six days straight of rain, snow, sleet and high winds, the sun came out for a short while in northern Minnesota. This was all the incentive I needed to hike into a Great Blue Heron rookery which I had been meaning to visit. The snow had finally melted on most of the trail, and after a decent very, very wet and mushy hike I arrived at the rookery.

I hope you enjoy just a few of the photographs I took this morning. It was so much fun to watch and photograph these majestic and glorious birds. In total I spent almost two hours on location including my hike from the trail head. Upon reaching the rookery I spent fifteen minutes slowly moving close enough for decent photographs. I did not want to spook the assembled multitudes, and thankfully effort that was successfully rewarded.

Finally, the entire time I was photographing the herons, a red-shafted flicker was serenading me. I’ve included two photos at the end of the post. The flicker found a mate!

The Happy Couple building their nest
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The Happy Couple
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The same couple … backing off a bit with my zoom
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The same couple … backing off even a bit more with my zoom
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When I first arrived, one section of the rookery was bathed in brilliant blue sky
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Clouds are now rolling in as I take one last photo before hiking back to the trailhead
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Looking for a good woman!
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Found!
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One thought on “Day 100: Great Blue Heron Rookery Photo Shoot!

  1. Great shot.. I wonder how you able to name those birds? I mean there are lots of birds in single place and how you identify which is which?

    I really admire skills in photography. Looking forward for more of the images..

    Clifford
    Nicaragua Bird Hunting (http://www.nicaraguabirdhunting.com)

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