Great Blue Heron at Oleta River State Park

"Great Blue Heron at Oleta River State Park in Florida"

 

OLETA RIVER STATE PARK – SUNNY ISLES, FL   

                                                                                                                                                                           

This is a photograph of a Great Blue Heron that was taken at Oleta River State Park in Sunny Isles, Florida. The gear used in this Great Blue Heron photo was a Nikon D90 camera body attached to a Tamron 28-300mm lens.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores, England and the Netherlands. An all-white population found only in the Caribbean and southern Florida was once treated as a separate species and known as the Great White Heron.

The Great Blue Heron is the largest North American heron and, among all extant herons, and is surpassed only by the Goliath Heron and the White-bellied Heron. It has head-to-tail length of 91–137 cm (36–54 in), a wingspan of 167–201 cm (66–79 in), a height of 115–138 cm (45–54 in), and a weight of 2.1–3.6 kg (4.6–7.9 lb). Notable features include slaty flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck of the Great Blue Heron are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 43–49.2 cm (17–19.4 in), the tail is 15.2–19.5 cm (6.0–7.7 in), the culmen is 12.3–15.2 cm (4.8–6.0 in) and the tarsus is 15.7–21 cm (6.2–8.3 in).

 

 

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    9 Thoughts to “Great Blue Heron at Oleta River State Park”

    1. LonnieF21

      Fabulous photo

    2. Anonymous

      VERY COOL PHOTO

    3. Janelle

      So beautiful and majestic is this bird.

    4. Alan S. Hochman

      Thank you Deby

    5. Great shot. Bright sun in Florida. You must have been very close to get it at 70mm. I shoot birds at 500 mm with a 50-500mm Sigma with my D90 and I still crop to get in closer.
      Great photo opportunities in Israel.

    6. Alan S. Hochman

      Shmuel,
      Thank you very much.
      I was using a Tamron 28-300mm lens on a Nikon D90 body. Taken about 10′ away.

    7. Zareena Qureshi

      I was so impressed with your photography that I have to view your web-site. It is excellent.
      I like to paint birds and endangers species of animal and bird.
      I book mark your site and I will check things out. thank for sharing.

    8. Alan S. Hochman

      Zareena, thank you very much!

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