Tricolored Heron
© Linn Smith
Published:
April 18, 2011
In January 2010, reader Linn Smith of Oviedo, Florida, found this Tricolored Heron taking a bath in one of the largest lakes in central Florida: Lake Jesup northeast of Orlando.
“Occasionally, I have seen various birds take a bath at this lake, but it was rare to see a Tricolored Heron,” Linn says. “Most birds flail and thrash about with the water in order to obtain a good scrub. The Tricolored slowly and methodically lowered its whole body for cleanup and only briefly put its head face down without much of a splash.”
She recalls that the bird was not facing into the light, so using her Canon EOS 5D Mark II and 300mm f/2.8 lens, she set the aperture to 4.5 with an exposure compensation of +2 to create the whiteout of the lake in the background.
See more Tricolored Herons featured in Photo of the Week:
- Adult crouching
- Adult preening
- Juvenile waiting to be fed
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