These geese were actually helpful in my approach of the Great Blue Herons described below. Under the watchful eye of the big birds, I stood by my tripod as these two geese walked by. They didn’t pay any attention to me and hopped in the water, and by doing so they demonstrated to the herons that I wasn’t worth much concern.

While they tucked in and took a nap in the sun, I was able to work my way closer to the big birds, eventually getting a couple of nice photos before they finally decided I was getting too close for comfort.

One thing I know to be true: these are very perceptive, alert, and skittish birds. Trying to get near them is a near impossibility, a feat which I’ve tried to accomplish repeatedly in the past two years. I got some pretty good success once so far this year, getting within 50 feet of one of these birds, but didn’t really come away with the greatest of pictures from it. I’ll keep trying.

With these particular birds, I spotted them from afar. I clipped my camera to the tripod and began to advance along the soft muddy shore of the backwater. I would walk ten paces or so, stop, and remain motionless for a while. The birds would see me, of course, since there was no cover for me…but after a while they’d lose interest and go back to snatching fish out of the water.

I originally only saw three of the birds, but then was surprised to spot a fourth playing lookout. I would pan the camera back and forth to keep tabs on all of them as I worked my way closer, and suddenly I realized there were five! As I started to get within what I’d consider “good” photo distance, one bird took off and flew down river a ways. Shortly thereafter, a second birds took flight and went to join its pal. These three, however, held out for a while… allowing me a chance to work my way a little closer.

I was never able to get too close, but thankfully I have one of Canon’s new 300mm zoom lenses. While parked on a tripod it’s able to pull some pretty awesome shots from a distance. I’m still saving for a 400mm prime lens, which should be really awesome, but until that time this’ll have to do.

I got quite a few neat pictures from this particular hike, and I’ll post them as time allows. I also found two ticks crawling on me through the course of the evening, both times on my pant leg. Yuck. I carry insect repellent spray and wipes in my truck, but I had grown accustomed to not needing them. I guess those days are over!

These are some pretty brilliant birds for North Dakota! I’m so accustomed to the more common brown birds of various species, but we actually do get a lot of very colorful wildlife up here. It ain’t the tropics, but we do get our colors.