I'm Back...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Last Wednesday morning I received a call from Artie to tell me that he was at Lake Morton and that Great Blue Herons were building a nest in a large Cypress tree. I couldn't go then or Thanksgiving day but on Friday morning I did go at sunrise. About every five to ten minutes the male heron would leave and return with a branch/stick. I returned again on Saturday morning meeting Artie and Anita who were already there. Same routine for the male heron flying away and then returning with a branch. I wondered how big the nest would when finished. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, Oben Monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal Head
1/2500 F/5.6 Highlight-weighted Metering EV 0 ISO 900 Auto 1 WB
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction when needed
Cropped slightly for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Lake Morton in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link The BAA Middle of Florida Site Guide (https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-baa-middle-of-florida-photographic-site-guide/)

[David Roach]

Nice clean view into the action. This ritual of GBH nest building is so iconic and you have a great view here. Looks a little dark or over saturated for my monitor. Love this canvas even with the branches (that's where they nest). TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice clean view into the action. This ritual of GBH nest building is so iconic and you have a great view here. Looks a little dark or over saturated for my monitor. Love this canvas even with the branches (that's where they nest). TFS

Hi David, thank you for viewing and commenting. You're right the image was dark. I went back and looked at the settings and the White slider in Lightroom was too much to the left, not sure why. Here is a edit and repost.

[David Roach]

Perfecto... Love it.

[Dorian Anderson]

I agree the original was a bit dark; the repost looks better. Image tells a nice story and is very technically you. Details look very good. Perfect depiction of how this bird would appear in the wild. Might tone down the white gape on the right hand bird; white looks like it's getting a bit hot in the report. But otherwise really solid.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super behavioural shot and good timing, it really holds my interest, I liked the original but I also like the repost, it must be terrific to just pop down the road and get some bird action!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

A great spot! I bet you can't wait to see the babies in action there. I love the the thin white feathers on the incoming bird's chest splayed by the wind.

[Brian Sump]

Joe, the moment I saw this composition I liked it. The way the tree disappears up to the right and everything falls off early to the left as it frames the inbound GBH works really well for me.

Nice job on the re-work and great job at 5.6 to get the whole interaction in focus!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.