Saturday, February 9, 2013

Great Blue Herons


oka9934

I am neither a twitcher nor an ornithologist, so some of these may be Grey Herons rather than Great Blues. Though, like all wild animals, they are naturally skittish around people, many live in urban settings and will allow you to get closer to take photos.... this one was in downtown Kurashiki.

hatsu968

With their long, spindly legs they are well adapted to wade in the shallow waters of ponds and rivers to find their staple... fish. This one is in the pond at the Tenmangu Shrine in Nagaoka.

h4163

Known as sagi in Japanese, they feature in many poems and paintings.

n8835

Graceful in flight, their wingspan can get close to 2 meters..

sagi6857

This one was in a drainage ditch in Tsuwano, literally a few meters away from where the Heron dance was being performed.

2 comments:

  1. so beautiful! oh, how lucky you are!
    huge HUG!

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  2. thank you for this blog where I can dream that I'm in Japan
    but on the heron, you have no right!! My heron is
    I live in Toulouse in France and across from me saw a heron
    when I went to Japan I saw everywhere, even on the dome in Hiroshima
    Well, it's obviously a joke I'm just jealous because I do not live in Japan ..
    so keep this wonderful blog
    :)

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