Contemplating Lunch

A lone Great Blue heron stands motionless in an Adirondack stream watching for his lunch. An early dusting of snow frosts the autumn landscape.The... more

by Ellen Levinson

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Price

$200

Dimensions

14.500 x 10.500 inches

Title

Contemplating Lunch

Artist

Ellen Levinson

Medium

Painting - Watercolor

Description

A lone Great Blue heron stands motionless in an Adirondack stream watching for his lunch. An early dusting of snow frosts the autumn landscape.The inspiration for this came from a photograph by a friend,Ray Braun. I embellished upon it a bit and added the heron. We're lucky to have one as a frequent visitor down the road from us, and often see one fly over my backyard.
Years ago I was graced with the wonderful experience of watching and listening to a flock of herons coming home to their nests for the night.The grounds behind my friends apartment went down to the waters edge and were part of a protected wildlife nesting area. We were sitting out meditating under some marvelous old trees when the herons started swooping over us. It was quite an amazing experience to see so many at one time and hear them calling to one another, as if saying good night.When I moved to the Catskills I was gifted with a heron feather my friend's cousin found. I have been using it for my smudging ever since.

The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 recognised species (some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron").However, egrets are not a biologically distinct group from the herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes. Although egrets have the same build as herons, they tend to be smaller.
The herons and bitterns are carnivorous. The members of this family are mostly associated with wetlands and water, and feed on a variety of live aquatic prey. Their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic animals, including fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, and aquatic insects.The herons most common hunting technique is to sit motionless on the edge of the water or standing in shallow water and wait until its prey comes within range. Sometimes the herons do this standing upright which gives them a wider field of view, or they may assume a crouched position, which is more cryptic and means the bill is closer to their prey when it is spotted. Having seen the prey the heron moves its head from side to side, so that it can calculate the position of the prey in the water and compensate for refraction. They use their bill to spear the prey.
The Great Blue Heron is found throughout most of North America, as far north as Alaska and the southern Canadian provinces. The range extends south through Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean to South America.Notable features include slate blue grey flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow.
The Great Blue Heron can adapt to almost any wetland habitat in its range. They may be found in numbers in fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges, or shorelines. They are quite adaptable and may be seen in heavily developed areas as long as they hold bodies of water bearing fish. Great Blue Herons rarely venture far from bodies of water but are occasionally seen flying over upland areas. They usually nest in trees or bushes near water's edge, often on an island (which minimizes the potential for them to become prey) or in partially isolated spots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

Featured in:
10/2012 Old Masters - Painters
03/2013 Nature Wildlife Sunsets
08/2013 Wildlife One A Day

(c) 2011 Ellen Lynn Levinson (Ellyn)
All images are protected by U.S. and International copyright laws.
All rights reserved by the artist Ellen Lynn Levinson (Ellyn).
Images may not be reproduced or used in any way without written permission from the artist.

Uploaded

September 24th, 2012