February 23 – My Nature Journal
February 23, 2026 Nature Journal
Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
Great Blue Herons are fantastic birds upon which to practice wildlife photography, especially the complexities and challenges of photographing birds in flight.
Capturing properly exposed birds when photographing against the sky can be tough, especially when motion blur from their flapping wings complicates things.
But Great Blue Herons are large birds that fly quite slowly. They take their time gaining height and they beat their extremely long wings deliberately. These habits give wildlife photographers and nature journalers like me a little more time to switch camera settings under pressure.
Not a ton of time, you understand.
Great Blue Herons can flap their wings at a relatively slow cadence because the wings themselves are so large—six foot (1.8m) wing spans provide a lot of lift on every wing beat. So a heron that appears to be flying very casually will cover a great deal of distance in a very short period of time.
Myrtle Warbler
Setophaga coronata
This juvenile Myrtle Warbler was one of several that flitted through the brush that lined the nature trail right next to a curve in the lake shore. As Myrtle Warblers tend to do, it moved quickly, flitting from branch to ground to different branch and never alighted for more than a second or two.
Despite taking multiple shots, this photograph was the best I captured; the birds were just too fast for me today.
Today’s Nature Journal Snapshot
|
Time of Day |
Early to mid-afternoon |
|
Setting |
Large lake |
|
Temperature |
42° F / 6° C |
|
Weather |
Mostly sunny |
|
Humidity |
37% |
February 23, 2023 Nature Journal
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Today’s Nature Journal Snapshot
|
Time of Day |
Early afternoon |
|
Setting |
Oak / hickory forest stream |
|
Temperature |
82° F / 28° C |
|
Weather |
Sunny |
|
Humidity |
53% |
