Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in Interesting Standing Position

The great heron has to be one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. This one in particular was in the pond behind my house, standing in a very interesting position in which I had never seen any bird. It looked as if it was sunbathing since it was facing West in the late afternoon, so that it was facing the sun directly. This bird is fairly large at about 3-1/2 feet of height in its position in the photo. I found very little information about this bird online, but one of the best resources was this from TigerHomes.org (a private animal sanctuary).