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Grey Heron


Grey Heron
Photo Information
Copyright: Sheriff Wilbury (soccer) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 520 W: 0 N: 501] (1751)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-12-28
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon 20D, Sigma 50-500 F/4-6.3 EX HSM
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/640 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Herons, Birds of South Africa 1, 60 - 69 Points (Chapter 2) [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-05-25 2:32
Viewed: 1390
Points: 78
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I was staying at Shingwedzi camp in the Kruger National Park and near to the camp, there is a low level bridge where some Heron's were feeding for a couple of days.

In the late evening, the bridge is normally packed with trafffic coming back to camp and that makes it difficult to take photographs from the bridge at that time. I knew the birds had been in the area for a few days, so I left camp at the warmest part of the day. Temperatures were around 40 Degrees Celcius. I knew there would be few, if any vehicles on the bridge at that time as most people were having a siesta in the after having eaten lunch.

I obviously risked having a lot of shadows on the birds by phtographing at that time of the day. I took the chance regardless and was astonished to see the Grey Heron standing right next to the bridge at exactly the right angle to avoid shadows on it's body......


Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

This species breeds in colonies in trees close to lakes or other wetlands, although it will also nest in reed beds. It builds a bulky stick nest.

It feeds in shallow water, spearing fish or frogs with its long, sharp bill. Herons will also take small mammals and birds. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim.

The Grey Heron is a large bird, standing 1 m tall, and it has a 1.5 m wingspan. Its plumage is largely grey above, and off-white below. It has a powerful yellow bill, which is brighter in breeding adults. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes and spoonbills, which extend their necks.

The call is a loud croaking "fraaank".

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Ciconiiformes

Family: Ardeidae

Genus: Ardea

Species: A. cinerea
valy67, Zeno, thor68, Snoops, scottevers7, rozaanbeukes, marhowie, pablominto, thistle, observer, elefantino, zeca, hansh, liziafa, CTP, pilonm, dew77, firelord, loot, metcher, petrudamsa, Fisher, joggie_k, Dando, DOBIS, jeanpaul has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Zeno: Sigma 50-500mm Lensesoccer 2 06-08 16:18
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Critiques [Translate]

Very nice birds, we have them here in France too. Good details, beautiful natural colors, nice composition and POV, very well done !
Valérie.

bravo sherryf
encore une jolie photo de ta part, ce pauvre héron semble perdu !!! belle expositon et joli fond flou comme j' aime
edith

  • Great 
  • Zeno Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 477 W: 0 N: 926] (7969)
  • [2006-05-25 5:22]
  • [+]

Hi Sheriff,

I've been in the Krugerpark (shingwedzi, olifant's, letaba and lower sabie) and know the bridge you are talking about. This is a great place for spotting birds. You were very lucky to see this bird. The pose of the bird is very nice.
I saw that you have a sigma 50-500mm. Are you satisfied with this lens?. I've got the sigma 170-500 and must confess that I have mixed feelings about this lens. I find it hard to make sharp photo's. Also the contrast in my pictures is not great. So I'm thinking of buying another lens. Would you advise the Sigma 50-500.

regards,
Zeno.

at 40 degrees he is cooling his feet. *g*
excellent shot, sheriff! :-)
you show us the nice typical heron-pose while on a look-out.
great composition and pov.
well observed & captured, thor.

Good details Sheriff, imho its a little soft on the focus or it could be my eyes at this time of day...lol a great DOF tho,
TFS mate :)

Hi Sheriff,
You did get the perfect anngle and pose to fully light this big guy up.
The sunlight was very bright, but you handled the exposure very well. The colors and detail look very good. Great clean backround really enhances the shot. Well done!
Scott

Hi Sheriff,
Great exposure with good detail, POV, and nice color..
It's very well framed in the vertical also.
Well done and TFS!

Hi there Sheriff,

What a lovely site you've portray with the Grey Heron. Not a bad shot with 40 degrees Celcius behind you. You've made good use of the birght daylight to create and portray this good posture of the Grey Heron. It shows you how important it is to make good use of the light to capture detailed beauty. TFS
Zaan

What a excllent shot, perfct details, BG, POV, Details are perfct great shot, TFS Kyle

Hello Sheriff,
Majestic bird, super capture!
Your efforts really paid off here, the image is beautiful and the bird obviously gives you his best pose...
Good even lighting, fine colours and details!
Greetings,
Pablo -

Great exposure with good detail, POV, and nice color.
It's very well framed in the vertical also.

Hello Sheriff,
Very good shot! The pictrue is maybe a little soft in focus, but the POV and framing are really good here. You managed the exposure well too.
I like it!
WELL DONE!

Good detail, colours have come out well with little shadow. A majestic bird.

Hi Sheriff,
nice heron here.
Good colors, details and BG.
Andrea

  • Great 
  • zeca Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 370 W: 14 N: 530] (2795)
  • [2006-05-25 13:11]

Hey Sheriff! What a nice shot! Wonderful bird, perfect focus showing nice details and colours. BG is great! Well done!
abraços,
Zeca

  • Great 
  • nofer Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1219 W: 367 N: 805] (2223)
  • [2006-05-26 0:14]

Na minha região o que se vê (muito) é a branca. A sua garça está muito bonita, bem fotografada. Nitidez, ótimo POV.
TFS
Reynaldo

In my area that sees her (a lot) it is the white. Your heron is very beautiful, well photographed. Clearness, great POV.

Hi Sheriff,
A bit of a late one last night (work not fun!!). Just time for a very quick visit.
Thanks for posting, well worth a big smiley.

  • Great 
  • hansh Gold Star Critiquer [C: 184 W: 1 N: 393] (2011)
  • [2006-05-26 5:45]

Very nice shot of this heron. I like the POV very much. Colors fits well in the background.
Gr. Hans

  • Great 
  • OzBY Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 181 W: 2 N: 303] (1049)
  • [2006-05-26 6:48]

Great picture of this Grey Heron. It can be found also in Israel (during the winter).

Oz

Hi Sheriff,
Beautiful photo with such a goos strong pose of the Heron. Great job to go out to this bridge in this heat, it gave you a great photo with excellent light and sharpness.
TFS,
Niek

Hi Sheriff,
Very good shot and work!
Composition and details are perfect.
Well done!
TFS Malgosia

  • Great 
  • CTP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 774 W: 6 N: 1107] (3183)
  • [2006-05-26 14:54]

Hi Sheriff,
Great capture of this Grey Heron.
Nice pov,colors,dof,note and framing.TFS
Chris

  •      
  • pilonm Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 542 W: 99 N: 813] (2647)
  • [2006-05-26 15:50]

Hello Sheriff,

Greay picture of that Grey Heron! I especially like the natural colors, the blurry bg, the excellent composition and pov. The picture looks a little bit soft in my opinion. Try to add more sharpness... It is a great picture anyway! TFS,

Michel

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2006-05-27 5:11]

Hello Sheriff,
Wonderful heron capture.POV,details,framing and composition are excellent.TFS...:-)

hi
felicitations car moi je n'est pas encore reussi a approcher un heron d'assez pres pour le prendre.
laurent

  • Great 
  • loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5695 W: 603 N: 3357] (8939)
  • [2006-05-27 11:03]
  • [3]

Hi Sheriff
Nice capture of this handsome heron and reading your notes recalled some fond memories of Shingwedzi. Easily one of my favourite camps in Kruger.
I have to be honest as in my opinion the bird might be a little soft in details, but the composition is great, the POV with the bird in the water and frozen in its watch is great, the colours are very natural, the BG faded nicely out of focus to compliment the bird, and you made very good use of the harsh lighting conditions.
Well done and TFS.
Regards
Loot

Hi Sheriff,
Nice bird. Well composed and good exposure.

  • Great 
  • pat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 94 W: 0 N: 125] (404)
  • [2006-05-28 8:22]
  • [2]

Hello Sheriff,
Excellent wildlife shot. We can observe the grey Heron in Europe too. I like your note, it makes me wanting to be there too, at the top of that bridge...birdwatching. Excellent exposure, nice pastel colours with a beautiful background. Thanks for sharing, Patrick

Hi Sheriff,

Your Great Heron is grat indeed!
(You have no ideea how many times I tried to approach this birds for a shot, with no succes!)
You managed a very good DOF that efficiently separates the bird from the BG. That Bigma is a very useful tool, isn't it?

Regards, Petru

Hi Sheriff,
this is a very nice picture of the beautiful hero-
Maybe you could add a wee bit contrast and sharpen, but thats a minor nit. Well composed, good POV and DOF.
Great work.

  • Great 
  • Fisher Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234] (8915)
  • [2006-05-30 10:37]

Hi Sheriff,

Well done on this capture and composition.

Mike

I love this photo, his pose is so regal looking. They're such fantastic birds to see, we have some around here, but I've never even gotten close to capturing a photo, even a bad one, they fly off so quickly. I love the rocks in the background providing texture and color. His wing feathers are so clear and sharp, excellent work.

What a wonderfull shot!
Keep up the good work.

Hi Sheriff,

This is another fantastic picture by you. The composition and the focus is good, but if you will pardon me saying this, I find it slightly on the soft side.

Well done nonetheless.
Jan-Hendrik

  • Great 
  • jmp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1836 W: 94 N: 2338] (8400)
  • [2006-06-01 10:42]

Hi Sheriff,
A beautiful portrait of this bird! Posture is great and the background is a smart frame for it. POV, DOF, light and sharpness perfect too.
TFS, José M.

  • Great 
  • Dando Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 643 W: 32 N: 790] (3052)
  • [2006-06-02 3:44]

Hi Sheriff, this is a very well composed shot. The lighting, colours and details are great. Very well captured and TFS.
Dean.

:-) tomorrow

Hi Sheriff,
have a look in to the workshop. Maybe you´ll like it.
Let me know.
Tomas

Hi Sheriff,
Great shot. Good POV and composition. Very well done. TFS
JC

Bonjour Sherryf
Très jolie cette prise de vue avec ce grand hérongris.belle composition et les couleurs et les détails sont jolis.
Merci et au revoir....JP

Hi Sheriff
very nice compo and great eye contact. There might be one minor problem: many jpeg artefacts, do not compress too much.
Obviously Great Grey Heron has a huge range of ditribution!
Cheers
Tom

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