The Story
On June 10, 2017, I photographed this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) at Everglades National Park, Florida. It eats fish, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates and small mammals. It usually nests in colonies in trees close to lakes or other wetlands. It is a large wading bird common near open water and wetlands over most of North and Central America. The park was established in 1934 to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades and dedicated in 1947.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Great Blue Heron as Least Concern with an increasing population, and the park is one of only three places in the world listed as a World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar wetland of international importance.
©2017 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List