Grey Heron, with wings outstretched

Lucy has been visiting Katharine and I for the last few days, so today we had an outing to Rowntree Park, on the south side of York.

There are attractive ornamental gardens and a long narrow artificial lake with a small island, and while walking around the lake we spotted this grey heron on the island, stood with it's wings outstretched.

I haven't seen a grey heron stand like this before - perhaps it is a way for them to cool down in the unseasonally hot weather, which reached 29 degrees celsius with fairly high humidity.

Ian

[Graham Thresher]

Super capture. Fav

[Ivan]

Graham pinched my words! Fav.

[Lynne Hart]

Wonderful capture. fav

[Pyrrhula]

Stunting capture and a great timing. Fav.

[Dianne]

A good image - yes it does look a it heat stressed. Nice to have your girl home for a while.

[gloria jones]

Great timing and capture

[Dione Giorgio]

Super capture and pose. Fav. That's why they don't spend much time in Malta. For us 29C in summer is quite fair and acceptable.

[Michelle Renee]

Ha candid shot!

[Fisher Family]

@thresheg @ivan @lhart @pyrrhula @dide @seattlite @sangwann @bokehdot

Wow, thank you so much for all the comments and favs - I'm quite surprised at the positive reception that this shot has received!

I did an online search and haven't found any reference to grey herons standing with their wings outstretched like this, although it is quite common with some other bird species. Any further information would be welcome.

Ian

[Camille Bisson]

wow, what a beautiful capture, love the light and angle in which you caught him. fav.

[Tony]

Beautiful capture of that bird in this unusual pose. They are generally rather prim and proper.

[Fisher Family]

@catsmeowb @tonydebont

Thank you both for your lovely comments!

Ian