Blue Heron w/catch

Gallery: AvianPosted July 12, 2010304 views25 comments

Here's a Great Blue Heron with a large sculpin it had caught. This was taken from a kayak on Hood Canal yesterday. This is cropped to about 60% of FF. If anyone in the Puget Sound area would like to learn kayaking or have someone take you out for photography on a kayak on Hood Canal or Puget Sound, Jason at http://www.gaguides.net does an excellent job at both.

MkIII 500F4 1/1250 F5.6, iso 640, manual exposure, handheld from kayak.

Comments

25 comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on July 12, 2010 at 8:52 PM

Sweet action there Nate and a nice low angle .

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on July 12, 2010 at 9:11 PM

Just awesome Nate. I rarely, if ever, see wading birds taking prey larger than bait fish and you really nailed this one.

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Conway on July 12, 2010 at 9:51 PM

Beautiful Nate. Love the composition and of course the techs are perfect.

Peter

Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Graham on July 12, 2010 at 10:02 PM

great detail and action, Nate. I like the low angle provided by the kayak.

Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on July 12, 2010 at 10:09 PM

Very cool, nice timing to get the fish suspended in air.

Didn't know there were sculpins that big!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Greg Cope on July 12, 2010 at 10:16 PM

Love the action, catching the catch floating in mid-bite. Fantastic timing and great low angle.

Registered on January 22, 2007, 212 Posts, 2737 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on July 12, 2010 at 10:54 PM

Impressive action, color and detail. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Darren McKenna on July 12, 2010 at 11:28 PM

The meal adds a lot to this image, great shot Nate.

darrenmckenna.com

Registered on October 28, 2008, 31 Posts, 214 Comments

Comment posted by Ronnie Gaubert on July 12, 2010 at 11:29 PM

Hi Nate,
Good job of catching the action at the right moment. The low perspective allowed for a very nice background.
Thanks for posting,
Ronnie G.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 810 Posts, 3495 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 12, 2010 at 11:52 PM

Very cool image, Nate. Thanks for the tip. as well.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on July 12, 2010 at 11:54 PM

Love it Nate, so that's what a sweet GBH photo looks like!

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on July 13, 2010 at 2:29 AM

Cool shot, Nate. Very nice detail in spite of the crop!
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on July 13, 2010 at 2:59 AM

That's quite a catch for bird and photographer Nate. Great natural history interest, low angle and DOF.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Kenneth Arni on July 13, 2010 at 6:13 AM

Great job Nate, like the low angle. Nice color and DOF. I've never seen a "sculpin" before.

Registered on December 24, 2008, 112 Posts, 629 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on July 13, 2010 at 7:14 AM

Great shot Nate - action, detail and low perspective

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on July 13, 2010 at 7:55 AM

Excellent timing and low angle Nate. Very sharp too.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on July 13, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Excellent image Nate! Love how the heron has the fish in mid air....did he flip it in order to swallow it? I assume that is what we are seeing since I have seen that behavior several times before. Anyhow, perect timing! Also love the low angle and sharpness of the shot. When shooting from the kayak, are you concerned about tipping the boat and sinking your gear at all? Just curious since I dropped mine in the alke earlier in the year.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on July 13, 2010 at 12:11 PM

Great timing on this and that is some fish (never heard of this before, we do not get many down in Tucson

). Wonderful detail on the larger version, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 13, 2010 at 12:34 PM

Thanks for you comments everyone!

Kurt, I think he was trying to get a better grip on the fish here before it went down. I don't think he flipped it from one side to the other. Yes, I am concerned about flipping the kayak. On this trip I was in a double with a professional kayaker who was driving, we were in shallow, calm water and he assured me we wouldn't flip. When I buy my own I will buy a wide, stable boat, use a dry bag when I'm putting in, getting out or driving for a while, stay in sheltered water and lastly, have insurance that covers my equipment.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on July 13, 2010 at 4:58 PM

Wonderful capture Nate! You captured the magic moment in this shot!

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on July 13, 2010 at 5:31 PM

Cool shot, Nate. At first I thought it was a bullfrog tadpole.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on July 14, 2010 at 2:37 AM

Perfect, Nate!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on July 14, 2010 at 4:42 AM

I'm glad we don't eat our food raw like this! You've captured the perfect moment here, most impressive from a kayak which has given you a low perspective.Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on July 14, 2010 at 5:09 AM

Almost over looked this one, glad I took another gander. Great shot and timing Nate!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on July 14, 2010 at 5:21 PM

I suppose one almost always has a low angle when shooting from a kayak, but it is a very positive aspect of this image - that and the timing of the shot.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments