Get out of the way!

This image has been added to all of the PRINTS galleries.

While capturing images, there have been times when I have said to myself, “Huh..! Did I just see that?”. And I feel that the image below really captured one of those moments perfectly.

I was at the dam on the pond at the Tuckahoe State Park when I captured this image. The Great Blue Heron and about two dozen Canada Geese were lounging on the crest of the dam. I was capturing images of this Great Blue Heron (already featured in the 11/13/2023 blog “Portrait Of A Heron”) when the heron decided that it was time to move. Unfortunately for the geese, they were in the way of where the heron wanted to be. The Great Blue Heron opened its wings, declared its intentions in Great Blue Heron “honking”, and started hopping from foot to foot in the direction of the geese. These actions worked as intended. The geese started to scatter, moving out of the way of that big, noisy, and hopping Great Blue Heron. This image shows the Great Blue Heron in mid hop with three of the geese scurrying to get out of its way. The heron moved to the far right side of the crest pushing the very unhappy geese out its way, stopped, settled down, and was happy with its new spot. The geese also calmed down and peace was restored to that little part of the pond. When the dust and feathers settled, I was absolutely thrilled at having witnessed the event unfold, even if I ended up not lucky enough to record it in images that were acceptable to present. It was one of those “Huh...” moments for me. I felt the same way when Dottie and I were lucky enough to see a White Ibis stop flying in mid air to scratch its head. I was actually capturing that ibis in flight when it decided to scratch that itch. After it resumed flying and went out of view, at the same time we were both like, “Did you just see that?”. Another surprise moment came when I was able to capture images of Bald Eagles mating during a visit to The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. That was definitely another of one of those “Huh...” moments, because I was NOT expecting that either. And its these little encounters that makes this hobby so much fun and worthwhile. Even if I am not able to capture an event in an image, the experience itself is what its all about.