A rare encounter Squacco Heron (Ardcola ralloides)

Discussion

7 replies

Posted by Barry Southon on June 10, 2012 at 11:17 AM

A rare encounter Squacco Heron (Ardcola ralloides)

A rare encounter for me that is.

I must admit when I first spotted this bird my immediate reaction was great excitement I thought it was a Bittern.

It is in fact a SQUACCO HERON behaves very much like a Bittern hides in the reeds but colouring is almost the direct opposite of a Bittern.

Canon 1D3 from a hide subject distance 230ft 800mm tripod gimbal 1/3200 sec f/5.6 ISO800 RAW to Lightroom 4 then re-sized to post.

Critique, Comments Advice all most welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

Posted by Jeroen Stel on June 10, 2012 at 1:01 PM

Lovely shot of this Squacco Barry! Typical behaviour fro them to hunt on top of these lilly plants.

greetings,

Jeroen Stel

Posted by David Sewell on June 10, 2012 at 5:51 PM

This one looks better in the large version, I really like the background.

David

Posted by Matt Cole on June 11, 2012 at 10:51 AM

I can only echo David's comment. The large version in particular looks very nice.

Matt

Posted by Neil Burton on June 11, 2012 at 11:32 AM

Had no idea they could be found in the UK. Marvelous.

Posted by keith mitchell on June 11, 2012 at 11:46 AM

Barry bet you where pleased with seeing this !the large one looks very good.

Posted by John Robinson on June 11, 2012 at 1:03 PM

Big one worth looking at. Well done Barry.
JR

Posted by Nick Mckeown on June 11, 2012 at 4:27 PM

You have caught the action of the bird very well here Barry and the reflection completes the composition.

Nick.