| Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Ardea cinerea (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Grey Heron French name: Héron cendré Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae Size: 90 to 98 cm, 600 to 1200 g. Habitat: Any area with shallow water of any kind (fresh or salt, stagnant or running). Food: Fishes, eels or frogs. Fishing or hunting are done by standing in wait. It stabs the preys with its beak. Nesting: The Grey Heron nests in colonies at top of tall trees. Females lay 3 to 5 eggs in a large nest built with sticks. Migration: Sedentary. Northern populations move southwards during very cold winters. Geographic area: From western Europe to Siberia, missing in northern areas, rare in the Mediterranean Basin and in North Africa. |
The Grey Heron is a large grey bird with long greyish-yellow legs, a long neck and long greyish-yellow beak. Under parts, head and neck are whitish. The Grey Heron has a black crest and dark streaks on front of the neck and on front of the breast. |
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Birds living near water give the possibility to play with reflections on picture composition. |
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Grey Herons are rather shy birds, especially if you do not use hiding huts. Here is the first time one Heron does not fit in the picture with my 300 mm lenses. |
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You can also see the Grey Heron in fields or in meadows where it looks for frogs or small mammals. |
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The colour of the Grey Heron suits better with the background green colour of the meadow than with the usual colours we can see on the pond's shores. |
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It is difficult to catch fishes when the pond is frozen. You need to wait for warmer days! |
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Just waiting for a picture with a Grey Heron having captured a fish. |
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This Grey Heron stayed quite still on the floating log. I have been able to approach very close to it. However I am not equipped with very long focal length lenses and this view is the result of a crop. |
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Grey Herons are used to perching on the trees bordering the pond. |
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Taking pictures of Grey Herons in flight is not a very difficult task as the flight is rather slow and staright. The next challenge is to shoot a picture of a Heron in flight, but with a nice view in the background. |
André Bon February 2012