I photographed this Great Blue Heron with its neck extended above the water at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. When the Heron extends like this only the head and eyes move to find the prey.
The heron will fold its neck back when a potential meal comes close enough. Suddenly, its body unbends, its head plunges into the water and it catches its prey. Sometimes it will miss like it did this time.
This Great Blue Heron didn’t stay in this area very long and I didn’t see it catch anything. I think the reason is that the stuff floating in the water made it difficult to see the prey. The white stuff floating in the water is from cottonwood trees. These small bits of cotton-like fibers surround cottonwood seeds and are released this time of year.
A Great Blue Heron I photographed and wrote about back on June 2nd: Great Blue Heron Standing On Log
How I Got The Shot – Great Blue Heron With Neck Extended
This Heron was at the Miner’s Cove area. Miner’s Cove is located just north of the 4-corners intersection (Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge). I parked on the west side of the tour road without disturbing this bird.
Equipment
A Fujifilm X-T3 Camera with a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens attached with a Fringer EF-FX Pro. Camera and lens resting on a bean bag draped over the open window of my pickup.
Camera Settings
- AV Mode
- Back-button focus
- Aperture f8
- ISO 800
- Shutter speed – 1/1700
- -1.0 exposure value
- Auto White Balance
- Single Point, Continuous Auto Focus
- Multi Metering
- Focal Length – 400 mm