![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bismarckmandanblog.com\/images\/heron_sunset_26562.jpg\")
<\/center>After a long day of organizing photos and walking around Papa’s Pumpkin Patch<\/a> with my wife and PJ, I let them take care of stuff like baths and took off to the sandbar with my camera. I wanted to see two things: what that pile of rocks under the bridge is, and what the new beam is that’s sticking out of the west end of the new bridge.<\/p>\nThat’s when my attention was drawn to the silhouette of one of my favorite, most elusive subjects: the Great Blue Heron. This one was reasonably cooperative, although I never did get too close to him. It turned out that was just fine, as I wanted to include the railroad bridge and the river in the shot. I set up my tripod and was able to take this exposure. What’s cool about the herons is that if they perceive a possible threat, they stand still to assess the situation. I clapped my hands to make this bird freeze in his tracks, then took the shot. This bird sat still for the eight seconds<\/em><\/strong> needed to capture the moment! Even zoomed into the full size picture, the water is blurred but the bird is not. What a cooperative subject! In fact, if you look at the Grant Marsh bridge in the background, you’ll see streaks of lights made by cars driving over the bridge while the camera’s shutter sits open.<\/p>\n By the way, the piles of rocks are so they can make a platform out into the water for a track-driven crane to move. Apparently the ones on the barges just aren’t going to cut it. And the beam sticking out of the west end of the new bridge? It’s a beam. Not that it was a mystery to start with, but it’s hard to get a decent look at it while driving over the old bridge. Two questions answered, one awesome (and unexpected) photo to boot. Chalk up one more successful journey in the Bismarck-Mandan area!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a long day of organizing photos and walking around Papa’s Pumpkin Patch with my wife and PJ, I let them take care of stuff like baths and took off to the sandbar with my camera. I wanted to see … Continue reading