Hundreds of Great Blue Herons appear to spend their nights in this grove of live oak trees,
bent by the prevailing winds off Aransas Bay, and the herons then take flight en masse for
their start of the day. I've been fortunate enough to have witnessed this spectacle before
but it took place one early dawn and the light was too dim to get a photo of it.

Today though, as I was taking a last batch of photos before leaving Rockport for a month in
Florida, the herons in a totally uncharacteristically cooperative farewell gesture for wild
creatures (which seldom cooperate with me on anything), slept in late this morning, waited
until I was nearby, and then took flight while I actually had the camera in hand, set, and
ready. Pity the sky wasn't better, but I'm not complaining.
In this shot alone, I counted 156 herons. A truly awesome sight.

Photographed in Rockport, Texas USA.
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