{"id":10666,"date":"2026-03-07T21:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchgrun.com\/blog\/?p=10666"},"modified":"2026-03-07T21:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:32:42","slug":"three-great-blue-herons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchgrun.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/07\/three-great-blue-herons\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Great Blue Herons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this week, I visited the South Platte River, at one of my usual haunts there. With the warmer weather that we have been having — a really warm winter — many folks were busy fishing along the river. So I did not see many birds in the river, since they stay away when people are around. Stopping by one of the bridges, I noticed a Great Blue Heron perched in a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0011-Great-Blue-Heron-Perched-No-1-South-Platte\"
Great Blue Heron Perched, No 1, South Platte.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After making several images, I paused to see what would happen. Then, I noticed a second heron, also a Great Blue, perched in another tree across the river. How lucky was that!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0018-Great-Blue-Heron-Perched-No-2-South-Platte\"
Great Blue Heron Perched, No 2, South Platte.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After some more images, I was switching between Heron No 1 and Heron No 2. Then I saw another Heron, No 3, in a different tree. I couldn’t believe it! Three perched herons in one location.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0032-Great-Blue-Heron-Perched-No-3-South-Platte\"
Great Blue Heron Perched, No 3, South Platte.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After a while, Heron No 3, decided to take flight. I had noticed another pair of birders that were exploring the same area. Maybe they had spooked this heron? Anyway, here is the Heron No 3, in flight.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0039-Great-Blue-Heron-No-3-Taking-Flight\"
Great Blue Heron No 3, Taking Flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I decided to approach closer to Heron No 1, to capture an image that was larger in frame. Before getting to the new location, Heron No 2 had already left. Heron No 1 was calling out to someone. Another heron maybe? I captured this image of the heron with bill wide open. No wonder that Great Blue Herons are able to swallow a big fish!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0052-Great-Blue-Heron-No-1-Calling\"
Great Blue Heron No 1, Calling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I made several images of Heron No 1 at the closer location. Eventually, after spending some 10 to 15 minutes at this location, I noticed that Heron No 1 looked like it was time to move on. I just waited to see what would happen. Heron No 1 had decided to take flight.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0068-Great-Blue-Heron-Taking-Flight\"
Great Blue Heron, Taking Flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here is another image as this heron was about to leave from the perch.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0069-Great-Blue-Heron-Taking-Flight\"
Great Blue Heron, Taking Flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Finally, I made this image of Heron No 1, in flight with its incredible wingspan.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3338-0073-Great-Blue-Heron-In-Flight\"
Great Blue Heron, In Flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

That was my lucky day. Three Great Blue Herons, including some in-flight images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, I visited the South Platte River, at one of my usual haunts there. With the warmer weather that we have been having — a really warm winter — many folks were busy fishing along the river. So I did not see many birds in the river, since they stay away when people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2085,1462,156,2084,2083,1936,25,1020,418],"class_list":["post-10666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-general","tag-calling","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-in-flight-2","tag-perched","tag-river","tag-south-platte","tag-tree"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t