So I was really lucky this day. I was on the Jamestown-Scotland ferry, waiting for it to take off and cross the river, and there was a great blue heron (know as a GBH in our family) sitting on one of the pilings. You see that occasionally -- they sit around with the seagulls.
Disclaimer: I'm posting these pictures against my better judgement -- there's no processing on them, not even RAW adjustments, just shrink and sharpen. And it's driving me crazy. But I'm tired, and it was pretty cool to see, so I'm putting them in the notes anyway, because it's going to roll over in an hour, and I need some sleep. :)
When all of the sudden, he starts moving towards the edge, and I watch in astonishment as he flies off to go fishing in the river!
I've only seen this once before, and it's quite freaky. Because usually I see GBHs fishing in shallow places where they can stand and wait for a fish. But here he flies out
and then starts flapping backwards, and it looks like he's standing on the water and slowing sinking
and some how manages to grab a fish in all of this
the fish is too big to haul out and he loses it and flies off to land back on the piling again. (The free study entry being the landing on the piling)
But look at the size of the fish he went after!
Anyway, it was fascinating to see. He took off and attempted fishing twice, once without a hit, once losing the fish, and then the ferry left, so I couldn't watch anymore.
I hope you enjoyed the shots -- I certainly enjoyed watching it! It was fascinating to see him fishing in a deep river.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments!
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What a capture. These things are so hard to find much less capture in my experience. There's one hanging around the Central Park Pond these days. I think I'll try to get it. bump