Water Ballet
A fishing heron & egret
At first there is only silence. I am nearly laying in the muck, slowly crawling on my hands and knees, trying my best to be invisible. Inch by inch I move forward, towards the water. I finally arrive and peer out from the water’s edge, slowly sighting in my target. Again everything is completely silent, there is no breeze and the birds are eerily quiet. It is so incredibly rare to be this quiet at an open marshy area and today I’m lucky enough to be visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on such a day.
In the distance, in the shallow marsh water, are two amazing birds beginning to fish. I settle in, precariously balanced trying to keep a very low profile all while trying to stay as dry as possible. I take a few initial photos to get proper exposure and just to document the birds before they possibly fly away. At this low angle near the water I can tell there is the potential for some great photos, if only the birds will come closer. As I’m watching I start to notice the Tri-colored Heron seems to be wandering towards me. Patience pays off and after about 15 minutes the heron comes within range.
Today this particular heron is frantically feeding, running around through the shallow water, trying to scare fish and then, in an instant, quickly striking at them. It’s working pretty well as I’ve seen it swallow a few fish already. I begin to faintly hear the splashing as this rather large wading bird darts from side to side. It is incredible to not only watch this amazing hunter but be able to hear it as well. The surface of the water is almost like glass, giving me amazing reflections in every photo. The only thing punctuating the near perfect reflections are the bubbles on the surface created by the heron’s running around. I know each time I press the shutter button that this is an amazing opportunity I’ve been presented.
After some great action with the Tri-colored Heron, it slowly works its way further from me and I turn my attention to the pair of Reddish Egrets. They haven’t been nearly as active as the Tri-colored but now they are starting to move around a bit more. The egrets seem to be a bit more patient today and a few times one of them is frozen motionless. From my perspective it appears as the bird is staring at its own reflection, hovering its bill mere inches from the water.
Finally one of the Reddish Egrets begin to perform their classic feeding technique. The bird spreads its wings wide over the water which helps to cut down on glare so it can better see its prey. I had seen photos of this behavior before but this is my first time witnessing it first hand and it really is a blast to watch. I manage to get one photo of only the bright pink bill sticking out behind a wing and a great reflection on the water, jackpot!
With my attention on the Reddish Egrets I neglect to notice the Tri-colored Heron working its way close to me again. The sound of it splashing around off to my left is what finally causes me to notice, the bird has come really close to me and seems to have no idea I am there. Splash…splash…splash…STRIKE!
Right in front of me the water erupts from the lighting fast strike, this time it is a miss. The heron repeats the process again, at one point it looks as though it is actually running on the surface of the water. The next strike is so fast I miss the moment but I manage to capture the tiny fish in the bird’s bill.
The Tri-colored Heron continues to come closer and closer to me. The bird finally comes so close to me my camera will not focus on it, it’s too close! I stop looking through my camera and just peek over the top of the viewfinder, trying not to move too much. I’m watching this amazing bird fish directly in front of me and it has no idea I am here. These are the moments that make nature photography so amazing!
I’ve been photographing these birds non-stop for nearly 30 minutes. The heron slowly wanders away from me and I capture the last photo in this series as it head away. The strike is fast, but I time it just right and capture the birds head directly centered between its legs and wings fully outstretched. A rather fitting end to this amazing experience.
