At first light this morning I was at John Lloyd State Park just to see what was about. I have been waiting for an opportunity to get good photos of a Green Heron and with a bit of stealth I acheived it today. Whisky Creek at John Lloyd park is a smashing little environment fringed with mangrove and sand. The mangroves provide a great refuge for small fish, crabs and invertabrates and therefore a perfect habitat for Herons and Ibis.
I have seen Green Heron there regularly so when I spotted one today it wasn’t unexpected. It was tucked away around the roots of mangrove, close to the stems in the dappled light. I assume that it felt safe and well concealed because when it realised my presence it just hugged closer to the roots. I have a strategy for getting close to birds like this. I snap off a few shots and then very slowly slide the tripod forwrd to my full reach and then shuffle very slowly towards the subject. Usually this will not cause too much alarm. I then let the bird settle down ad carefully repeat the process. The photo below is proof that this strategy works well.

Just have a look at how strong the shadows are on the body of this bird. Remember I said it was only very early morning and already the light is making it hard to adjust the camera properly and get good results.