Happy Landing

One of the tricks to photographing birds in flight, is to anticipate their movements before they take off. This Tri-colored Heron looked like it might be ready to move, so I got on the bird and let my Canon camera's autofocus do the rest as it took off. When we see every feather in freeze frame, it makes us notice new things, such as the white at the base of the tail in the third photo. As with the Great Blue Heron in the photos from yesterday, the lore, or facial skin between the eye and the base of the bill on this Tri-colored Heron, is bright blue due it being in breeding plumage. The Tri-colored Heron is sometimes misidentified as a Little Blue Heron, but the white belly is a give-away.

Photos of Tri-colored Herons © Lillian Stokes, 2006