Indiana Photographer Captures Eerily Beautiful Picture of a Great Egret

Of all the kinds of photography, I think the one I appreciate the most is nature photography - more specifically, pictures of animals. In addition to having the right equipment to get the perfect shot, you also need to have patience, knowledge, and probably a little bit of luck. Jeff Basham is a photographer from northern Indiana, and one of his recent pictures exemplifies what I'm talking about.

The picture is of a great egret, a bird that is described as "a tall, long-legged wading bird with a long, S-curved neck and long, dagger-like bill" (allaboutbirds.org). Jeff spotted the egret doing what egrets do, wading in or near shallow water to hunt fish, frogs, and other small aquatic animals.

Is It a Bird, or a Dragon, or a Ghost, or What?

The picture is unlike anything I've ever seen. For whatever reason, the great egret looks translucent and much of its skeleton is visible. I was trying to describe the photo to a friend, and the best analogy I could come up with was "imagine a bird in a wet t-shirt contest." That may be a little crude, but I'm not wrong. Ha!

I'm assuming Jeff wasn't trying to capture a picture just like this, but he had the right equipment, he was patient, he was in the right area, and he got a little lucky. Regardless of the circumstances, and even though I have no idea what is exactly going on, the picture is really cool. Some of the folks who commented have a great take on the picture.

• One person described the picture as "eerie" which I think is the perfect word - it is beautiful and neat, but also kind of eerie and spooky.
• Someone else said, "Cool...looks like one of the dragons on GOT (Game of Thrones)."
• Another commenter said, "REMINDS ME OF THE ALIEN ON AN OUTER LIMITS EPISODE FROM THE 60s TITLED 'WOLF 359.'"
• And someone else said perhaps the egret was "blocking the light/sun so it can see the fish in the water better."