Les Jones

East Tennessee > Night Herons, Small-mouth Bass at Greenbelt Park

This kid and his dad were fishing below the dam at Greenbelt Park (Maryville, TN) where I was photographing herons. I was amazed he got a bass that size in Pistol Creek. These were the other two fishermen below the dam:

The lower heron is a black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax.

The upper heron is a yellow-crowned night heron, Nyctanassa violacea. At first I wasn't sure. The Audubon field guide shows a photo of a bird just like that, but the painted illustration in the Peterson and Frank Shaw guides show a bird with a much shorter neck. Looking at Google Images, it appears there's a large variation in neck length for yellow-crowned night herons.

My photography teacher gave us a rule for focusing: always focus on the eyes when you're photographing people or animals. If the eyes are out of focus the entire picture will look out of focus. I'm gradually getting used to setting focus lock on the eyes and then re-composing the picture.