With record rain in the month of December, Leslie and I managed to get in one trip to Theler Wetlands this month, and despite a favorable forecast Leslie had to return to the parking lot to get her umbrella. Apparently that was enough of a charm to dispel the rain, but it was dark and overcast the whole day. A high tide and high winds didn’t improve the birding, but all of those probably contributed to getting close to this Great Blue Heron twice.
It greeted us at the beginning of the trail, just beyond the first big pond,
and, although it appeared to be hiding at first, it never did fly off while we were there, allowing me to get several great poses.
Although we spotted a few Mallards, Northern Pintails, Bufflehead, and Green-Winged Teal on our walk, they were all so far away and the lighting was so bad that I didn’t manage to get a single good shot of any of them.
However, the Great Blue Heron was still there when we returned an hour and a half later though the rising water had driven it a few yards away.
If it hadn’t been for two other visitors, I would have gotten another great shot of the heron on the railing of the boardwalk, where it was apparently posing while waiting for me to finally get there. It’s nice to know that I can always count on the Great Blue Herons for a good shot when all the other birds seem to have vanished.
