Great Blue

I took this one Monday morning, just after some rainshowers had passed through. He (or she) is a Great Blue Heron. A better name would be Great Big Blue, if you asked me, but of course, no one did. We were heading for the river and disturbed his fishing. He left the slough and flew across the gravel road in front of us, and up to this perch. These guys are camera shy, and usually fly too far off for the digital before they light. Must have been some good fishing going on for him to only go this far. Great Blue's can get up to 54 inches tall with a wingspan of just over 6 1/2 feet. Looks to me like this one has maxed out. Luckily, he did not take wing as we backed up a bit, so I could get him silhouetted against the brooding sky. Once again I was presented with a perfect opportunity to use a natural frame. Makes it look like I know what I'm doin, don't it? Here is the entire photo. If you look closely at the large tree trunk on the right, you can see the high water mark from the spring rise on the Ohio.This is my favorite lake on the game reserve, Castor Lake. Don't ask me why such a beautiful spot shares the name of a nasty medicine.