Figure 1 – Great blue heron carrying fish back to its rookery. Assabet River Wildlife Refuge, Maynard, MA, April 24, 2016. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

It was another glorious spring morning today; so my friend Jane and I headed off again to the Wildlife Refuge. I had heard that there was a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) rookery to be seen, if I took a different path and sure enough at a distance were swamped tall pines on top of which were herons’ nests, and these nests each had a pair of the majestic birds. I amused myself for a while studying them through my camera, which serves as telescope in a pinch, even though the distance is too great for photographs. I know, because I have tried.

We then wandered back to the requisite path along the marsh in search of otters. We saw none. But the herons were in abundance and very active. I photographed the one of Figure 1 on the wing (always a challenge) and carrying a freshly caught fish back to the rookery. With on the wind photographs the trick is getting a bead on the bird long enough for autofocus to work. Or if that fails you can always trust to luck. This is a combination of the two strategies. Of course, the sharpness is not quite up to my standards. It never is!

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 330 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/3200 sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.