Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"Great" Expectations

African Brown Goose
On a slow day, I went to take a walk at Columbus Park in Tucson.  I wanted to take advantage of the cooler temps and see if I could spot something different.
Great Egret in flight
And while I didn't have lots of new sightings, I was able to capture the "Greater" birds out in the open.  Some of them were the closest I've been able to capture on camera!
Great Blue Heron
Like the Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets.  They walked slowly around me as I watched them eye up fishermen and their bait:)
But for the first time, I was able to spot wildlife and then spot people walking towards them.  And at this point, I was able to predict their trajectory as people and dogs alike spooked the birds into flight.
And that is where I set my camera waiting with great expectation for "the" shot.
Great Blue Heron in flight
It was also the perfect time of day to spot Great Egrets as the sun wasn't as strong yet to make them "glow" in the sunlight.
And so while nothing major happened, I was able to get close to some amazing birds.  There's never a dull moment while birding:)  More tomorrow....

29 comments:

  1. And you didn't even go to Africa to see that goose. Great shots. I have to think more about expecting flight.

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  2. Beautiful images Chris, nice to be there, birdwatching.

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  3. Nice set of herons! Glad you liked my "wordy" post - as you may be able to tell, I do take a bit of time on them!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  4. A good tip there Chris. Sitting and waiting for birds to come to you is almost always better than chasing them. Even better if you let unaware folk do the hard work for you in sending the birds in your path. Good luck with your dad by the way - buy him a pair of bins for Xmas or his birthday.

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  5. Some beautiful and skillfull shots Chris. Herons in my experience can be illusive little buggers to get a decent shot of.

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  6. Great shots Chris. Herons and Egrets are such lovely birds :)

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  7. Looks like an ideal spot for photographing egrets and great blue herons.

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  8. Nice work Chris.
    Hey, there's a Groove-billed Ani over at Sweetwater Wetlands (or was yesterday). Gonna chase it this evening!?

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    1. You know me too well:) Camera is ready to go. Maybe I can get sick somehow today:)

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  9. I love that blue heron in flight

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  10. I'm envious of the blue heron in flight Chris, that's one of my dreams is to catch one of the big birds in flight. Excellent series of images here.

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  11. Cudne zdjęcia ptakĆ³w i Å¼Ć³Å‚wia też oczywiście. Pozdrawiam.
    onderful pictures of birds and turtles, of course. Yours.

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  12. ooooh!! awesome shots chris!! nice place to visit...and explore! i LOVE herons & egrets...but TURTLES...my totem animal...they are my all-time favorites!!

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  13. Very nice pictures of some of my favourite birds too! :)
    The last one is fantastic!
    Greetings Pia in Sweden

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  14. Chris, you did get some really good shots!

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  15. Wonderful images ... many thanks for sharing them.

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  16. What an amazing face the African Brown Goose has. Great shots of the heron and egret in flight, Chris.. I'm green with envy.

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  17. Great photos of all those bigger birds. I need to do lots more work on my in-flight photos :-(

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  18. Great shots! I love your heron and egret photos!

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  19. Sounds like you were in the zone. Love the egret shots

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  20. I'm so jealous of that marvellous 'in flight' shot!! And I wonder if our Great Egret is the same as yours? The OZ birding folks generally change the name if it's the same as a different species elsewhere ... I shall check it out!!

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  21. Great series!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  22. Wow these are incredible -- we spent a couple of winters in Tucson and I never saw that many water birds. Bill always said he would have stayed in Tucson more except that there wasn't any water (so that's why we go to Florida now in the winter. We like it, but Tucson would be so much closer and easier to get to from Oregon!).

    Your flight shot is great and I am envious...Thank you.

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  23. These are very nice, and I enjoyed my visit. Happy weekend~

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  24. Super shots of the heron and egrets Chris! The in flight shot of the Great Blue Heron is great!

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  25. Terrific shots! Who would of thought these images of water birds came from Tucson? Nice idea on predicting human and bird behavior.

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Thanks for stopping by!