Tricolored Heron – Preening
Prior to this past winter vacation in Florida, I’ve not had many other opportunities in photographing Tricolored Herons; so any time I saw one in the past few months, I tried capturing as many photos as I could of this gorgeous heron.
Tricolored Heron
With the surrounding brown mangrove roots and reeds, it wasn’t the greatest to compose the Tricolored Heron’s profile with anything else in the frame. Darn. We always like a pretty scene or background.
But wait! After a little bit, my beautiful subject decided to do a little preening.
The Twist (song)
“Come on, baby
Let’s do the twist
Come on, baby
Let’s do the twist”
“Take me by my little hand
And go like this
E-yah, twist
Baby, baby, twist”
“Ooh yeah, just like this
Come on, little miss, and do the twist….”
Lyrics by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters 1959
(which gave birth to Chubby Checker’s Twist dance craze in 1960)
Tricolored Heron – “Doing The Twist”
A scene that seemed dull unfolded into a beautiful shoot with just a little patience on my part.
Photos by Donna 
Stunning captures in good light Donna, brings out true colour.
Thank you,Ashley!
Absolutely wonderful shots with the colours and gestures! I am still laughing at you putting in the lyrics, amazing what Covid-19 brings out in us with all this isolation.
Thank you, Jane! Nature and laughter are two awesome ‘medicines’ for our health and well-being. I’m glad I made you laugh!! ❤
Goodness, what a twist! Such a pretty powder blue…
They are stunning when they flair their feathers! 🙂
Looks like David G. Allen was right then when he said: “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” 😊
Absolutely true and an awesome quote, Mike! I’m adding it to my collection, thank you! 😊
You’re very welcome. It also happened to me yesterday (see latest post). I was trying to take a picture of an Orange-Tip and just as I got close another came along and the two started ‘fighting’ or ‘courting’. (I’m not sure which is which with butterflies!) Anyway, not more than 20 seconds later, I caught 2 of them perfectly stationary. (I’ll say no more about it, ahem, but check out photo 12…) My new camera sure got that one right. 😊
Excellent details of the plumage, Donna!
Thank you, Indira!
Another of the local ‘rock stars’. Nice captures, and I personally like the reeds and cane background 😀
Thank you, Ted! 😊
The preening shot is amazing. 😊
Thank you, Irene! 😊
Nice Donna! Great images & captions!😊
Thank you, Reed! 😉
The bird and photo are beautiful, regardless of the background. But I share your feelings. I was taking photos of a pair of snowy egrets in our cove at low tide this week and in comes a cattle egret, kind of unusual to see at the water’s edge. Unfortunately the cattle egret chose to sit on a dirty, semi-submerged tire in the mud flats, so every photo of this bird has the tire as the background. So what do we photographers do? We get the shot anyway! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Susan! I know exactly what you mean, esp. when trash is in the shot. If small enough, we can ‘remove’ but not a whole darn tire! lol Sometimes, if close/focused well, cropping as a head or upper body shot can work! 🙂
Absolutely wonderful images, Donna. Thank you!!
Thank you, Isabel!!
LOL! Love the song lyrics to go with the images. Their feathers are gorgeous! I’ve never seen one in real life.
Thanks for sharing, Donna!
Thank you, Deborah! When s/he stopped at the end and just looked at me, that was an interesting twist shot, lol. Too bad all the herons and egrets don’t fluff up more often to display them, they could stay all fluffy all day long for us photographers!! 🙂
they should! 😂
A little patience pays off! Lovely photos!
You know it! 😊 Thank you much!
This bird can dance😊. Wonderful photos, Donna!
Sure can! 😉 Thank you, Belinda!
Patience rewarded as were your readers. Thank you.
Thank you, Tom!
Great photos! There’s nothing better than stretching and twisting under the bright lazy sun! You captured that, perfectly. Nice work, Donna. 🙂
Thank you, HJ! I wish I could stretch and twist like this! ha ha those days are gone! 😊
A true contortionist, Donna. What a gorgeous creature. I have never seen one, and can only imagine that I would be floating on cloud nine the entire time if I ever got to Florida (the same goes for Texas).
I believe you would, Tanja. The Texas coastline is on our bucket list for a winter stay around Port Aranus or on Mustang Island and see the Whooping Cranes. 😊
…I am drooling… 🙂
Love that you put “The Twist” with these photos! What a great series! Beautiful! 🙂
Thank you much, Lisa! 😊
How can you tell if it’s a male or female? Anyhow he/she is a contortionist.
Only side by side can you tell whether it is a male or female. The male is usually larger with a longer beak. That they are!!
You got this heron in perfect light. 👍🏻 Oh that beautiful color of feathers. 😁 Fabulous Donna ❗️
Thank you, Al! They are quite beautiful when they fluff up those feathers. I was thrilled with this opportunity! 😊
Your patience paid off! What a beautiful series. Aren’t they handsome?
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Wally, they are!! 😊
Really fun post, Donna. Loved the unusual twisting neck and the song lyrics sprinkled in. I never ever tire of watching this beautiful bird, and I’m glad you stuck around for the show.
Thank you, Jet! Birds have really taught me the value of patience. 😊
Me too.
Still great photos! You can’t pick your background with animals unfortunately.
Thank you, Sharon! We take what we can get! 🙂