06/28/2026
I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of this Great Blue Heron all summer.
I see it on the same stretch of river almost every time I hike there, and every time it plays out the same way: I come around a bend, my brain registers something sticking out of the water, I assume it’s a branch, then it moves and I realize it’s the bird. By the time I get the camera up, it’s already leaving.
The worst part isn’t even that it flies off. It’s that it flies low over the river like it might land somewhere close, glides around the next bend, and then just disappears.
Today I saw it early in the hike and missed the close shot again. Later, Atlas and I were sitting by the river for a while, and after maybe ten quiet minutes it slowly worked its way back around the corner. Still far away, but close enough.
Not the photo I wanted, but after spending the whole summer getting outmaneuvered by this thing, I’ll take it.
