A Lot Of Posing…Not Much Fishing

Yesterday evening I spent some time set up on this rather grumpy looking great blue heron hoping it would catch a fish.

However it seemed to be much more interested in posing and preening than it was in fishing.

I was about to give up on the bird but then the sun broke through and it looked like the action might pick up.

Well it did…sort of…the heron made a stab at capturing a fish but only came up with what looked like some marsh weeds.

Despite the unsuccessful attempt, the great blue’s disposition seemed to improve somewhat, but shortly after that heavy evening cloud cover came in and spoiled the lighting so I went on my way and left it alone with the hope that he got a fish eventually!

26 thoughts on “A Lot Of Posing…Not Much Fishing”

hellboy2503 on September 20, 2012 at 11:00 am said:

Really great photos

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 11:02 am said:
  
  Thanks a lot, glad you liked them.
  
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Jennifer on September 20, 2012 at 11:32 am said:

Excellent series! Your pics are always paper sharp!

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 12:02 pm said:
  
  Hey thanks Jen! Glad to see you here and happy you liked those photos!
  
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monisertel on September 20, 2012 at 11:50 am said:

Hello Phil,
wonderful posing, wonderful light, like golden sun!
Stunning pictures!
Nice day
moni

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- Phil Lanoue on September 27, 2012 at 7:35 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much Moni! I appreciate your visit!
  
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richardjlee on September 20, 2012 at 12:03 pm said:

Great captures Phil!!!

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 12:04 pm said:
  
  Thanks for checking out the pics and glad you liked them!
  
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Mark Goodwin on September 20, 2012 at 12:51 pm said:

Love you work Phil, not sure what I would do If I had Alligators on my local salt marsh though!!

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 1:14 pm said:
  
  Hey Mark well I’m sure you would be happy to photograph the alligators if you had some available. 🙂
  The gators here do not live in the salt marsh but will make brief visits to hunt for food.
  Thanks for checking out the pics!
  
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Kate on September 20, 2012 at 2:52 pm said:

In the last photo, the heron looks like he’s laughing at you! ; ) Great pix, and herons are wonderful birds, aren’t they?

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:
  
  Yes he does Kate, that heron had an attitude for sure. 🙂
  Thanks for looking at these pics and the GBH is one of my favorite birds.
  
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Molly Argo on September 20, 2012 at 3:56 pm said:

These are fantastic photos of this handsome bird! As healthy as he looks, I’m sure that he doesn’t miss too many times!

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- Phil Lanoue on September 20, 2012 at 4:43 pm said:
  
  Thanks Molly and yeah he is a very good looking bird, that’s a big reason why I stuck with him for so long and took photos despite there not being much action. Plus I liked the light and the setting but I still can not figure why he didn’t catch any of what appeared to be numerous fish swirling about. Oh well, he must be eating something.
  
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FeyGirl on September 21, 2012 at 10:04 am said:

Lovely images of the great blue!! He definitely seems to want to just relax in the waters, not bothering with fishing…

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- Phil Lanoue on September 21, 2012 at 10:55 am said:
  
  Thanks a bunch!
  Yeah I don’t get it with this one, he seems to be more interested in goofing around then in fishing.
  Wacky heron. 🙂
  
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laurazeitlos on September 21, 2012 at 10:07 am said:

Great photos..i really love them!
Cheers,Laura

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- Phil Lanoue on September 27, 2012 at 7:39 pm said:
  
  Thank you for looking Laura and happy you liked the photos.
  Somehow a lot of my comments got misdirected earlier, sorry.
  
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pixelspielerei on September 21, 2012 at 10:29 am said:

Great Impressions!

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- Phil Lanoue on September 21, 2012 at 10:58 am said:
  
  Thank you so much!
  
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jussaraluna on September 21, 2012 at 9:12 pm said:

Hello Phil :))
Thank you for visiting.
Great blog! Wonderful photos!!
My best regards ~~Jussara

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- Phil Lanoue on September 21, 2012 at 10:01 pm said:
  
  Thank you Jussara! I’m happy you have visited me and also glad you liked the photos! 🙂
  Cheers
  Phil
  
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pviette on September 22, 2012 at 6:47 am said:

Wow, these are stunning ! A friend-photographer of mine is a “bird-nerd” (his own words ! ) and he’ll turn green and blue with envy, I’m sure. And thank you again for your comment on my photograph. Patricia.

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- Phil Lanoue on September 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm said:
  
  Hi Patricia, thanks very much for visiting and your kind comments! Glad you enjoyed seeing these and hope your photogrpaher friend has fun checking out the photos.
  Cheers
  Phil
  
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jrista on September 23, 2012 at 2:35 am said:

Great shots! Its neck in the third photo is almost snakelike. I really love these guys…they do indeed posture a lot, more than they actually catch fish. 😉

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- Phil Lanoue on September 23, 2012 at 9:41 am said:
  
  The way he was using his neck in that stealthy, stalking mode was almost a bit uncharacteristic of how I normally see the blue herons fish. The tricolored herons which are smaller use that technique quite successfully.
  Thanks for checking out these pics!
  
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