Heron in Flight 20x30 Print

Okay, this one is more of a lesson for some folks.


I was out and about early in the morning of the fall in 2023 with my new camera and decided to head to the Alabama River. The sun was rising and the water was providing diffused light over every inch of the bank. In comes this heron, minding its own business.

For every bit of forty-five minutes, this heron and I worked together to capture some great poses. No really, even while it was hunting for minnows and smaller fish in the streams, it continued to create some compelling poses for me.

While this was happening, a couple of fishermen showed up to fish off the stairs at the top of the lock and dam. One of them decided to venture down to the sandbar where the heron and I were working. I was being nice and said to myself that it wouldn’t be long before the heron was gone while this guy was walking around. The fisherman circled the whole sandbar, doing nothing in particular, before coming within about twenty-five yards of where the heron was minding its own business before he picked up a rock and threw it at the heron. It took flight and I got this image.

Now, I did capture this image so I’m not mad about the flight. I’m just saying that the moral of the story is to not be a douche, which is what I called the guy as he was making his way back up to the stairs. He didn’t say anything back.