A Rare Picture of a Heron

Getting pictures of Herons can be difficult. At least in northern New Jersey, where they are not always that common. Also, it often seems that you have to be lucky with the timing, that you have to be at the right place at the right time to actually see them. Then, the trick is to have a halfway decent camera to be able to capture their image.

A few weeks ago, I visited Ringwood State Park, a park where an old, Colonial-era mansion stands. There is a nearly dried up lake in front of it, as well as a pond or two. It was there, while I was sitting and reading, enjoying a beautiful day, that I saw a Heron, and tried to take pictures of it. But it was across the pond, and simply too far away to get with a picture. With previous experience as a teacher, plus the sense that it kept watching me whenever I moved, ready to fly away at a moment's notice, I knew that it was hopeless, unless it decided to move closer. So I returned to the book, every now and then looking up to once again watch the silent and nearly motionless hunter as it kept looking out for fish or anything else that it eats in the water. 

That made for a memorable experience, even if I was unable to actually capture it's image enough to make a good picture. In fact, it was tiny in the picture, and you had to really look closely to see that there was a bird at all. And it hardly could be seen with any great detail.

Years ago, I worked part-time on the weekends at a place in Roseland, New Jersey. There was a kind of makeshift park just below this workplace, which had a lot of grassy, open space, as well as a pond. Every now and then, there was a Heron who would come and, similarly, hunt. But I remember it would fly away anytime I came anywhere near the pond or, if it came to the pond while I was already close by, it would be prepared to take off and make an escape whenever I so much as moved. Unfortunately, also, I did not have a cell phone that was good with pictures back then, so there was never a good picture of that beautiful, elegant bird from my end.

But days ago, my son and I went for a walk at Wawayanda State Park, in New Jersey. We passed another pond, and just like that, there was a Heron. Our very presence made it understandable nervous, so I tried to be still, and tried to carefully take pictures without seemingly posing a threat. For once, it finally worked, and I was able to get these pictures of a truly beautiful, magnificent bird.

Enjoy!

Rare picture of a Heron