What kind of bird is this?

[crankbait]

Was able to capture some beautiful pictures of this bird while fishing.

Poor fella had some fishing line on it as well, which is why it's important to dispose of your line properly.(You can see the line on the 3rd pic, right leg)

Can someone help identify it. Thanks

 

[richyb]

great blue heron

[crankbait]

great blue heron

 

Thanks, going to read up about it.

[Bondar]

swamp chicken

[ciceri]

swamp chicken

 

Haha..

 

 

Kinda looks like the Scugog River. We see them all the time there, but can never get that close! Nice shots.

[Cudz]

Yeah Heron. They usually don't let yo get that close. Maybe you have crazy zoom on your camera.

[Rich Clemens]

swamp chicken

 

 

Don't let Greencoachdog see this .. he'll eat the darn thing.

[bigugli]

If you can sit quietly and move only slowly and calmly, you can easily get to within 10-15 ft. They will get used to you if they feel safe in your presence. The one I took pics of in the spring hung around, right close, for the free dead minnows I would toss to him. Same goes for loons. I had a pet loon as a teen. Every morning he'd wait by the dock for me to check the bait trap, and I'd feed him a minnow or two dockside. Doesn't take much to get a chickadee to perch on your shoulder.

[4thgen]

I was catching panfish in a back bay once and had one land on the back of my 12ft boat. It was a bit of a surprise to say the least.

He was obviously used to handouts as he was quick to eat a few perch that I threw to him.

[crankbait]

Yeah Heron. They usually don't let yo get that close. Maybe you have crazy zoom on your camera.

 

Nope just a standard sony cybershot. He was within 7ft of us at times. I think the commotion of us catching fish attracted him over.

[musky66]

Great shots! HAve had them walk up between the cottages years back to chase and eat red squirrels!

[musky66]

Looks like he might have a hook and swivel up higher on his leg as well as line. What is in the water in the second shot?- its not in the first one

[crankbait]

Looks like he might have a hook and swivel up higher on his leg as well as line. What is in the water in the second shot?- its not in the first one

 

I have no idea

[Jonny]

I have no idea

 

A piece of the log he's standing on. Note that the log is floating higher in the second pic. Maybe the first one was from just after he landed?

 

Really nice shots. I've never seen one closer than about 30 - 40 feet.

[ehg]

That last picture is an excellent photo of a blue heron. Thanks for posting these.

[gdelongchamp]

We were fishing a small lake north of the Berens River years ago, cleaned a bunch of fish for our supper and tossed the guts in the bush up the shore away from camp not to attract the bears but to attract some eagles. All night long there was lots of squacking from some birds, and the next morning while on the lake we approached where we had dumped the guts, and slowly as we approached a blue heron would take to the air. As we approached closer more would take to the air. We eventually counted thirteen herons leaving the fish guts pile.

[Jipman]

Great Shots! I know that they are all over Picton Bay. Was there a few weeks ago putting out the dock on the summer home and they would often fly down around dawn and hang out for a few mins at the edge of the dock. I thought they were some sort of Crane at first untill i was corrected!

 

Beautiful birds nonetheless!! And those white Xraps really catch their attention =P