In downtown Richmond -- right in downtown Richmond -- is the James River.
In the middle of the James River is a great blue heron rookery.
I knew there was a rookery somewhere up there (it's about an hour away), and I finally tracked it down last summer. But you couldn't really see anything because the trees were across the river, the herons were gone, and the trees were all leafed out.
I was told to come back in February.
I did.
The nested in February:
I visited in March. Not much activity on the river. They were still flying around, but the nests couldn't be seen because the trees had leafed out.
(didn't enter either of those shots)
I was told that the shad run in April, and that the GBHs hang around in the river during the fish run.
I went up to Richmond 3 times during April, spending about 4 hours each time. Two times were a bust, but the 1st of the three was incredible!!
About 20 GBHs in the river while I was shooting. They were actually slow catching the fish, but I had some opportunities. However, the osprey were fishing and so were the cormorants. I had never seen the cormorants fishing before!!
This was actually my favorite shot -- and one I almost entered:
If I had been able to get a little lower for the shot, it would probably be my favorite shot of all time. I love the difference in size of these birds!
Here are some other shots from that day:
And check out the size of some of the fish!!
The fish run is over, so I probably won't be back for awhile. But I will certainly be back again next February when it starts all over again! :)
Thanks for the incredible votes and kind comments. I love this shot, but I never expected it to do anywhere near this well. I thought it was too small to really get the fell of it.
We want 1000 or 1200 pixel wide challenges! :)
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