Family Beach Day

 Bufflehead trying to shake a clam out of its shell.

A lot of running for those little legs 

 Great blue heron

Getting off all that wet sand...

Will the Real Bird of Prey Please Stand Up?

Klingons, here is a real bird of prey!  Great Blue Heron, Santee Lakes.  These amazing birds hunt just about anything they can swallow, from your favorite Koi, right out of the pond, on down to ground squirrels, peaking out of their holes.

Great Blue Heron Having a Bad Hair Day

Great Blue Heron hanging out on a buoy on a windy day in the Mission Bay Harbor. Bad hair day? ...or perhaps a bad feather day.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, sunning on the rocks in Mission Bay. He was keeping a keen eye on me but otherwise did not budge an inch.

Got Milk?

Great Blue Heron with feather on beak. This picture reminds me of the mild ad! He probably just pulled his head out from under his beak. It's kind of a bird version of hat hair! (Beak feathers?)

By Special Request

A Great Blue Heron, by special request, for our wonderful Miss Birdie! This Heron was hanging out by the water. It wasn't napping as you can tell by those beadie little eyes that were watching me carefully. It wasn't looking for fish. It appeared to just be relaxing in the sun. I, as you can imagine, used the opportunity to snap some 40 shots from different angles and with different depth of field just to make sure that some of them came out nice!

Great Blue Heron on Lamp Post

Those herons get around don't they? Into your koi pond for a little sushi? Into your lilly pond for a little frog? On top of your lamp post? Hahah! This Great Blue Heron was enjoying his vantage point. This is a mature one with awesome neck plumage!

Great Blue on the Prowl

Here is a Great Blue Heron that was prowling through the eel grass for a tasty meal. I was so close I had to zoom out to get the whole bird. They are magnificent!