Egret on the Dock in Florida

As we were walking on the trails at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida, we came upon this egret sitting on the rail of the dock, or observation platform, or whatever else you want to call it over Lake Hancock. It was really cool to see it there, too.

Except that it wasn’t cool because he was blocking my way. All of the signs and maps had warned us not to bother or go near any of the animals that we might come across. I wanted to go out to the dock/platform thing, but that would involve going near the egret. So even though he wasn’t technically blocking my way, he was still blocking my way. Oh well. At least we had been out there on our previous visit, so I knew what it was like. And on that previous visit, I didn’t get a cool photo of an egret, so it all worked out well.

And then right after us came along someone else who also apparently wanted to go out on the dock thing, and he just went on out there, causing the egret to fly away. Sorry, egret. I did my part to follow the rules.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? - Matthew 6:26

About the photo:
For a while as I was processing this, I was trying to lighten up the bird a bit, but it came out looking unnatural. So I ended up leaving him (or her?) slightly dark, although I think you can tell what it is just fine. Sometimes the more natural look is better, believe it or not.
A single RAW exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8