Herons are a bit of a reoccurring theme for me.  I’ve many photos of nesting herons and flying herons but few decent photos of herons stalking and hunting except at a substantial distance.  The reason is pretty simple.  These may be big birds and they are noisy and bold with each other at heronries but they are surprisingly timid for their size when it comes to humans.  I’ll frequently see them from kayaks on local rivers or when walking along towpaths of the canal but they quickly depart if you get close.  

This one is a bit of an exception.  It has been hunting along my local canal and has become somewhat tolerant of people as long as you don’t pass too close or too noisily.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and for the past couple of days have walked the 5-10 minutes to where it has been hunting.  Usually, that’s on the far side of the canal in the undergrowth by the water.  ‘Far side’ is relative. That’s only about 25 - 30 feet.  Working carefully and pretending to not take too much notice of it I’ve shot quite a few of it at work.  So far, I’ve not see a successful catch but I’m hoping to soon.  

This shot is with a Nikon D500 and a 300mm f/4 with extender (i.e. 420mm) though I had to back up; 300mm was enough.  It gets dark under the bushes so the exposure was ISO 3200, f/5.6 and 1/640 sec.