Annoyed

This photo represents one of the few times I went looking for the bird rather than waiting for the bird to come to me.  Nothing was happening and nothing had happened for quite a while.  I became impatient and saw this great blue heron down by the bridge.  I decided to walk down there and try to get a few shots of him.  The road parallels the riverbank in this stretch so it was easy enough to do.

I had gotten to know this bird and he knew me.  He pretty much claimed that area for himself and would defend it aggressively from other herons.  After seeing him in each of the past several years, I didn't see him down there this year and I'm pretty sure he died.  Their life span can be twenty years or more so he may have been quite old.

Anyway, he wasn't scared of me, but he was annoyed that I had taken an interest in him.  I wasn't really even that close, but an animal can sense things.  If he was scared he would have flown in the opposite direction but instead, he flew almost directly at me and up and over the bridge into the marsh on the other side, complaining all the way.  I recorded three nice shots of him before he got away.