As I may have mentioned before Ann and I quite frequently breakfast at the McDonald’s restaurant a couple blocks from our house. Ya gotta love those ©Egg McMuffins. 🙂
Behind the parking lot a little creek meanders along, a branch of the Red Arroyo system. We always monitor the birds and such that frequent the place. The other morning we spotted this juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, (Nyctanassa violacea), along the bank. You can see that it’s yellow crown hasn’t matured much yet.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
I photographed the bird from the car, using my Canon EOS 7D with a 100-400mm lens attached. It is amazing how successful you can be if you use your car as a blind. If I would have got out, I am sure I would have spooked him, and he would have flew off. When I absolutely have no choice, and have to get out to get a shot, I try to keep the car between me and the bird, maybe shoot over the roof, or lean over the hood, etc. For these shots, I was only about about 40 feet away.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
The less stress you put on your birds, the better and more natural image you can obtain. Click on either image to see an enlargement. Happy Shooting!!
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 