Singletary Lake: Millbury (12/16)

On Saturday my parents and I decided to make the short trip to Millbury to see if we could find the Little Blue Heron that had been reported at Lake Singletary. Unlike some of the other rarities that we've chased this year, we were lucky enough to find this guy. When we pulled up in the parking lot, it only took us a few minutes to locate the bird on the shore. We watched for a few minutes from the car before we decided to chance getting out. To our surprise, the bird didn't fly away. It just stood there preening.

Since it was being relatively cooperative, I decided to try to shoot some pictures. This was my first opportunity to use the Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens that I got on Friday. And the heron turned out to be a great starter bird. Just after I got into position, it started to feed. It walked along the shore until it spotted something in the water. Then, its head would rock back and forth as if it was triangulating its target. Then it would strike. I saw it catch at least three small fish over 30 minutes or so.

The best part is that, as it foraged, it got closer and closer to me. I tried to stay as still as possible and it got within a couple feet of me. So, I got some REALLY nice photos (1, 2, 3). So far, I just love my new lens. The image stablizer really works.

Finally the heron decided he was a little too close to me and flew off to the other side of the lake. But, the great sightings weren't over. A few minutes later my Mom spotted a Bald Eagle soaring over the water. As it spiraled closer and closer to us, I tried to get a shot off. But I couldn't get the autofocus to find the bird and I missed the shot. Oh well.

Birds: Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Ring-billed Gull, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Bald Eagle