Mill Brook Preserve, Westbrook Maine
Mill Brook Preserve (located in Westbrook, Maine) is one of my favorite hiking spots. It’s a beautiful 5 mile hike along a stream filled with wildlife. Along the entire hike, you’ll find toads, squirrels, chipmunks, and LOTS of birds (especially herons). Multiple species of herons perch along the stream waiting for fish to swim by.
My Crazy Idea
For awhile now, I’ve wanted to get a shot of a heron mid flight. I’ve taken plenty of heron photos but they’re all stationary so I was looking for something more eye-catching. The other morning, I happened to wake up at 4:45am to roll over and then the idea hit me: “what if I get up now and try to get the shot I’ve wanted?” This was completely unplanned but I decided to hop out of bed and go for it. I knew that Mill Brook Preserve has plenty of herons, all I need is to throw a pack together and drive over.
The Hike
I’ll be honest, I was exhausted. The hike was long and pretty uneventful. It was incredibly hot and humid which surprised me given how early it was. The humidity was so bad that my camera lens kept fogging up. Throughout the hike, I saw lots of little birds and even a couple of deer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a good photo of any of these due to the fog on my camera lens. At this point, I was getting pretty hungry and almost back to my car.
An Unexpected Opportunity
With only 10 minutes left until I was back at my car, I was ready to admit defeat and put my camera away. It was still a nice morning but I certainly didn’t get any photos worth keeping. Just as I was ready to put my camera away, a black-crowned night heron started flying straight towards me. I whipped my camera out, adjusted a couple settings, and started shooting. I only got a burst of 3 shots before the heron went behind some trees. I eagerly pulled up the photos to see if any were keepers. Out of the 3 shots, one was good! This was an excellent way to end the trip and couldn’t have been a better start to my day.
