I went out today mostly looking for dragonflies. I knew I brought my big lens along today for a reason! The only problem is I left it in the car. I was regretting that big time when I came across this Black-crowned Night Heron. I was just commenting to someone this morning that I have had few opportunities to get shots of a mature Black-crowned Night Heron. A good shot of a mature Black-crowned Night Heron that can be printed at a large size is at the top of my list of most wanted bird shots. I only brought along my short lens because I was mostly looking for dragonflies and didn’t think I would need my longer lens. I did have a teleconverter with me, at least, which helped a lot, but I still had to get close. I took this shot as soon as I got close enough for an 8x10 print. I took a couple steps forward, got close enough for an 11x14 print and was going to take some more shots but thought I would take a few more steps forward since the heron seemed oblivious to my approach. Bad idea! The heron took off. If I had gone slower things would have been different, but I got into the moment of excitement and it clouded my thinking. Now I am thinking I should get a 2x teleconverter in case something like this happens again.