Like most beginning wildlife photographers, one of the birds I photographed was the friendly, neighborhood Great Blue Heron. This large bird found around the globe is, for the most part, very forgiving to us newbees. They let us make all sorts of mistakes, which most of the time do no more than make the GBH move off a short distance. Their large size permits us to capture nice images even though we don’t have the longest glass in the store. So it is only right that as we get better, we revisit our early friends and do photographically right by them. How?

Start with making them the star of the photograph, and we do that by being very picky with the background. With that long lens you now have in your bag of confidence, move left or right, up or down just enough to make the GBH pop in the frame. You do that when you have that gorgeous soft light. Light that brings out all the detail yet illuminates the elegance of this magnificent bird. While it might be common, with you since you, we, first started out in wildlife photography, it’s a great subject that teaches new lessons every time we have in the viewfinder. That’s why it’s wildlife photographer’s best friend!

These pint size balls of fluff are one of the funniest critters you’ll spend time with! The Burrowing Owl is unique in so many ways, tops is its living in “burrows,” underground. Whether modifying an abandoned burrow or digging its own, this diurnal owl can fly with ease yet prefers to walk and live under the earth. Their burrow complex can have many tunnels, a couple of entrances and placed is the oddest of places. That brings me to these goofballs.

We found about a dozen (hard to count when they play wack-a-mo) at a sports complex last week. Taking care not to disturb them the first time we ventured to their burrows, we were quickly rewarded by their presence. As the sun slowly sank in the west, it got later in the day. School was soon out and soccer practice was in the throws of starting up. Soon, green soccer balls were rolling on the field and up to the burrows. My first thought was, “There goes the shooting, the owls will go underground and that will be it.” I was so wrong, rather, the goofy owls seemed to be watching the balls roll within inches of their burrow and continued to watch as a munchkin ran over to kick it back unto the field! Seriously, they seem to be actively watching the soccer practice! They are a hoot to watch, even more to photograph and at this sports complex left me thinking the earth has eyes.

I love Wood Storks! They are such a large, goofy, gorgeous, gregarious bird that is a wildlife photographer’s best friend. When I have the opportunity to photograph them, I’m all over it. And when they are the right height to place the morning sun behind them, I can’t move fast enough to find the right individual that morning for the brief sun shoot. What’s the right one? I want the sun just as it says hello for the day. I want a Stork that is not sleeping, somewhat animated. Then I need a place to stand to merge the two elements in the frame. Yesterday morning I got really close to what I’m wanting, excited to see what today brings as I have a real bad fireball attraction.