Great Blue Heron comes in for a landing

Found across all but the farthest north reaches of North America, Great Blue Herons can be both beautiful and gangly.

In flight they are gorgeous with slow, steady flaps of their wings that create a massive wingspan six feet. When they land or take off though, they don’t look quite as graceful. With those pencil thin legs and long neck stretched, they have an almost prehistoric look to them.

No matter, they are pretty darned cool birds to watch and their blue plumage is gorgeous.

Here, a heron comes in for a landing at a slightly submerged island at Golden Ponds in Longmont, Colorado. Scroll down to view the complete sequence as well as some images of this bird in flight.