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Grey Heron / Blauwe Reiger (Ardea Cinerea) #4

It's called ballet... :)

This is the story behind this shot (all the others are deleted to bring down my collection to 100):

It's Winter, freezing, cold, water turned ice and the birds are having a difficult time. So I go to the park everyday with lots of food to help them. One bird I cannot feed is the Heron as they don't eat any of the regular bird food. But of course when I arrive and start laying out the stuff, they too hurry my way. And I feel awful to see them standing there and not getting any.
So I was in the pet shop where I buy my bird seed and mentioned this and the lady cheerfully said: you could feed them one day old chicks. I don't know if 'one day old chicks' is the correct English term, but it's the male offspring of a chicken who's meat is not fit for human consumption and who are therefore economically useless. They are killed en masse (some 30 million a year over here). I am strongly against this. In Dutch they are called 'eendagskuikens'.

However, standing in the pet shot I had to make a quick decision and thinking that those chicks in the shop's freezer were already dead and could help other birds survive, I ended up buying a bag full of them, frozen solid. I left them in my bicycle shed over night to defrost and yesterday took them to the park and fed them to the Herons. By then that solidly frozen block had of course turned into a big bag full of dead chicks. The Herons loved them though and apparently the word spread and never before have I seen so many Grey Herons in one spot! But as I was throwing the chicks unto the ice I felt a complete barbarian. What makes it even worse is that I came home with a card full of pictures. Never mind the moral dilemma, I am a bird photographer and there's some action going on!

Well, tonight I looked at the pictures and processed a few. I will probably upload some more in the coming days, but here are just a few.

Light was not good by the way and kept changing on me.
This particular Heron was wet and his back looked muddy and I had great difficulty processing the image. It still doesn't look quite right to me.
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8 comments

Levina de Ruijter said:

Thank you so much, Mitch.
Merci beaucoup, Pascal.
Dank je wel, BIanca. (Blij je hier nog steeds te zien!!)
11 years ago

Levina de Ruijter said:

You are all very kind. Thank you so much, Any, Richard, zeze57, Huub, Philip, Suus and Ian.
11 years ago

Levina de Ruijter said:

Dank je, Alex.
Thank you, Catherine and Betty Jo.
11 years ago

Levina de Ruijter replied to :

Un grand merci, Thierry.
11 years ago ( translate )

Levina de Ruijter replied to :

Thank you kindly, Chris. Much appreciated.
11 years ago

Levina de Ruijter replied to :

You are very kind, Nuao. Thank you so much.
I'm glad you were just busy and had not abandoned ipernity!!
11 years ago

Janet Brien said:

This is just delightful! Awesome timing!!! What a beautiful bird, and the description is super too!

I am so happy that you check your comments regularly, because this way I can walk backwards through your stream whenever there isn't a new picture and I can appreciate your past images! You're such a talent, and I wanted to say thank you for your thoughtful comment on my latest 365 image. It makes me feel good that you think the composition is fine even though the fore flower is centered! Thanks for taking the time to let me know what you thought!

Also, since you love birds, I wanted to know if you are aware of my friend, Christina Port? She's an incredible Australian photographer who focus on birds, especially pelicans and parrots! You will LOVE her photography, and you will also love her wonderful, humble and sweet personality...you know...you two might be sisters! :D In fact you ARE! You're my Pod Sisters! *hugs* Please visit when you have a chance, you'll love her images!

www.ipernity.com/home/325951
11 years ago

Levina de Ruijter replied to Janet Brien:

Janet, you are a sweetheart to want to comment on a picture of mine every day. But I want you to know that I am quite alright to leave comments and not get any comments back when I don't have anything new myself. I usually do not post images on a daily basis. So, if you like to go back into my stream and comment on older images, then of course, that is really nice and kind and *of course* I welcome it. I'm only saying that you don't *have* to. :)

As to Christina, we've been contacts for a while now! I'm enjoying her images very much as well as her comments.

Thank you so very much!!
11 years ago