In the Field

The Great Blue Sorcerer. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. September 23, 2026

This is one of those "I wonder if I got anything in that burst?" type of shots! While waiting for wolves to show themselves in an estuary in the Great Bear Rainforest we had this Great Blue Heron fishing along the side of the creek that feeds into the estuary. I was shooting a long lens/TC combination at the time and decided to stick with the heron for awhile. At one point it started to frantically flap its wings - and I snapped this shot (in a burst of about 15 shots). Enough was going on at the time that I didn't review the images in the burst until later when I transferred the images to my desktop computer system.

Anyway...as it turns out the single burst yielded several interesting shots of the flapping heron. I chose this one to present here for several reasons. First, it really nicely illustrates the massive surface area a Great Blue Heron's wings have - which is really quite cool. Second, there's just so much to look at in those underwings! Third, those rusty "chicken legs" makes the heron appear very unbird-like...almost like a mythical creature of the forest. Which leads to my fourth reason and why I named the image "The Great Blue Sorcerer" - whenever I look at this image the absolute first thing I think is that I'm looking at an evil sorcerer casting a spell (presumably on its prey?). Anyway...just one of those fun wildlife images that encourages you to look at it more than once! Enjoy.

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this evil forest sorcerer:

• The Great Blue Sorcerer: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 5.0 MB)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. These images - in all resolutions - are protected by copyright. I'm fine with personal uses of them (including use as desktop backgrounds or screensavers on your own computer), but unauthorized commercial use of the image is prohibited by law. Thanks in advance for respecting my copyright!

2. Like all photographs on this website, these images were captured following the strict ethical guidelines described in The Wildlife FIRST! Principles of Photographer Conduct. As such, no baiting or any form of attractant was used and, as always, we attempted to minimize our impact on the ongoing behaviour of the subjects. I strongly encourage all wildlife photographers to always put the welfare of their subjects above the value of their photographs.

3. This image was captured during my Khutzeymateen Summer Explorer Exploratory Photo Adventure in late summer of 2025. Each year I offer photo tours into various locations on the amazing BC coast, including the Great Bear Rainforest and, every other year, into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary (to photograph grizzlies, of course!). Details about these trips can be found on the Photo Tours page of this website.

Behind the Camera

The Great Blue Sorcerer. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. September 23, 2026

Compressed RAW (ARW) format; ISO 2500.

Sony A1 II paired with Sony FE 600mm f4 GM OSS lens with Sony 1.4x TC (840mm). Hand-held from floating Zodiac inflatable boat. OSS on and set to Mode 1. Expand Spot (tracking) AF area mode with subject recognition mode set to Bird.

1/2000s @ f5.6; -2.3 stop compensation from multi-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

The Great Blue Sorcerer. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. September 23, 2026

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .arw (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD3 algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 10.1 Elite (using the appropriate camera/lens module).

Subsequent adjustments to the adjusted linear DNG file (exported from PhotoLab) and conversion to 16-bit TIFF file (and JPEG files for web use) - including all global and selective adjustments - made using Capture One Pro (build 16.8). In the case of this image I made two global adjustments - a contrast adjustment (using the Levels tool) and a slight bump up in brightness (mid-tone exposure). Selective local adjustments performed using Capture One Pro's layers and masking tools. In this case numerous small adjustments and minor tweaks were made on 4 separate layers, with the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to brightness, clarity, highlights, shadows, blacks, etc.).

Photoshop modifications included insertion of the watermark and/or text.

Conservation

The Great Blue Sorcerer. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. September 23, 2026

Species Status in Canada*: This subspecies (Ardea herodias fannini) listed as of "Special Concern" in Canada.

While Great Blue Herons are distributed widely across North America, the fannini subspecies found west of the coastal mountains (in BC and the USA) has been showing significant population declines and now is represented by only approximately 8000 to 10,000 breeding pairs (with about half of those in BC).

The main factors threatening heron populations are nesting failure and reduced nesting productivity as a result of eagle predation, human disturbance and destruction of nesting and foraging habitats by residential and industrial development, road construction and logging.

In British Columbia, the Great Blue Heron, its nests and its eggs are protected by the province's Wildlife Act. The Great Blue Heron is protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. This Act prohibits the harming of birds, their nests or their eggs. No other recovery plan or action is currently in effect.

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada