Nature Notes

Feathers found on a walk.

Any ideas what sort of bird these feathers are from? Do they look like belly feathers with their short length and thick down?

I discovered these beneath a tree where it would seem a Very Bad Thing happened to Some Bird.  There were LOTS of feathers as if there was a serious tussle. The black dots on the tips are perfectly round and so very black. 

So beautiful....

Remember this heron?

And speaking of birds, remember this heron?

I didn't know it until it was too late but I loved this heron. It was tame-ish. Whenever I would go to the pond to feed the ducks this heron would stalk over to to me very closely and stare into the water. Like 2-3 feet away from me.  CLOSE. Very close.

At first I thought it wanted bread which means this heron was not quite all there because they do not eat bread.

But then it turned out the heron is very smart.

Not only do ducks like chunks of bread but so do CATFISH. You can see their greedy whiskered mouths wide open right below the surface of the water grabbing whatever the ducks can't eat quick enough.

In a flash this heron would grab a catfish out of the water right  there in front of my very eyes just a couple of feet away and it would fly to the side of the pond and do some rather graphic and bloody things to the poor fish before swallowing it whole!

I started feeding the ducks just to see the heron catch fish. It was pretty cool having it happen right there in front of me like that.

And then one day I looked out the window and saw two herons swoop onto the bank of the pond and do some sort of Physical Contact I couldn't quite make out.

This is where I tell you there is a lot of "physical contact" going outside of my windows. The ducks do not wait for spring and sometimes there are even teenaged people out there "carrying on."

My first thought was that these herons where mating. They are LARGE birds. It was a SIGHT to behold. Lots of wings, long necks, scrawny legs....

But then one flew off, the smaller one pictured above. The one I love. The one that brought me such joy catching his fish, stabbing the bejeebers out of them with that sharp beak and then causing me to have indigestion and esophageal pain while watching him swallow it whole. At least the fish wasn't wiggling on its way down.

And left behind was a much larger heron with a really long, fat neck who is not tame at all and does no good heron trick right before our very eyes except for WOWing us with how BIG he is.

So I think I saw a territorial fight. Mr. Big Heron, who looks a little different from the one pictured with his more pronounced eye mask, is now Boss of the pond.  He doesn't even live here full time like the other heron did and he does not engage us at all like our other heron.

So that is my sad heron news. And I learned something that I am sure will be true in ways I can't even fathom in the future (deep sigh): Don't take the nature at the pond for granted. It might not always be there.

And as crazy as this sounds, when I am out walking and pass other nearby ponds (there are many) who have herons stalking about I always take a close look to see if it is My Heron that I miss so much.