Great Blue Heron at Finley Nature Wildlife Refuge 10/24/2024
Finley at the Bruce Road entrance was as dry as I had ever seen it. Sharon and I checked out the bird blind at the first parking lot with no water in the pond and no birds visible. We drove down Bruce Road and where the road bridges over the pond we saw about only 50’ to 60’ of water on both sides of the bridge where usually we would see a pond of about half a mile or more in length.
We drove on with no water to be seen and finally turned around to go back down Bruce Road and head home. On our way back our bird list included one Red-Winged Blackbird and a Northern Harrier off in the distance.
As we crossed the bridge Sharon saw an animal in the water, so we parked the car at the end of the bridge and walked back hoping for a mink or an otter, but we found a pair of nutria.
I took pictures of the nutria and was looking for their den in the side of the pond when a Great Blue Heron flew from the south straight at me. I started taking photos and as it got closer it noticed me, flew sideways then landing for a second. It sprang back into flight making a large circle around me, flew across the road, and landed at the north edge of the pond.
My new camera and lens, the Canon R5 Mark II with the 200 to 800mm lens, tracked the Heron in flight perfectly for over 200 shots and during at most two minutes of time. Here are 20 shots of that encounter. Enjoy!
A few minutes after the Heron landed, a Great Egret came to the water and about landed on the Heron found the pond too crowded and flew in several directions until the Egret flew on south. I will be working on those photos next.
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