Thursday, May 7, 2015

Great Blue Heron

From this front view, a Great Blue Heron at Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina, doesn't look so blue.



He looks more brown and tan, like the rocks along the shore of this marsh. Perfect camouflage. He matches his background as viewed from the point of view of the fish he is hunting; his legs have the same tonal and color gradient as the rocks; rusty brown leg feathers match the seed heads of the grass; light tan with darker shades of gray make his body look like a rock; even the slender, pointed feathers gracefully hanging from his body break up his silhouette by mimicking blades of marsh grass. As Dexter Morgan once said, "Camouflage is nature's craftiest trick."

Tom Bradley  ©  2015

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