If it is possible to have such a thing as a 'favourite bird', then mine is without doubt The Heron.
So when I saw this one yesterday sitting on the horse's water trough, about 300 metres away, I just had to try to take its photo. I hope you can see it.
Without the help of a telephoto lens, I pressed the junior zoom facility on my very cheap camera, and the above was as close as I could get, then I held the camera up to one of the lenses of my battered binoculars and I got the one below. In both dreadful pictures you can just about see the beautiful bird.
National Geographic will certainly NOT be contacting me; I would need a much better camera!
I love herons too.
ReplyDeleteThey represent a healthy countryside.
DeleteThere is a heron on our local river ( 5 mins walk away…the River Lea in Harpenden) that is very " tame". I have been within 5 yards of him/her several times and even the dogs don't seem to frighten it. Such beautiful plumage close up.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the very first one I saw in my native Surrey village; I must have been 5 or 6. I can remember being amazed that such creatures were out there in the wild, it seemed very exotic.
DeleteThe last British fort to try to hold out against the Romans had a local Heron god which the Romans mimicked with a flute-playing stilt-walker at dawn to freak them out. They followed it up with a herd of elephants, followed by naked African warriors. That did the trick.
ReplyDeleteThey say, these days, that you make the Italians (Romans) run by playing a loud recording of a woman in labour.
DeleteOh yes Cro, I can see it, albeit through a glass darkly. I love the heron too and we are lucky enough to have them on our beck, where they hunt for bullheads.
ReplyDeleteI can just see them down there, having their lunch.
DeleteI didn't see my first heron in the wild until my mid-20's. Mid-30's for my first bald eagle.
ReplyDeleteNow they're quite common in this area. Who says a book can't change the world? Rachel Carson's Silent Spring continues to change this part of the world for the better.
I think they're quite common here too, but I only ever see single ones; never a pair or a group.
DeleteI can see it very clearly in the first photograph Cro ...... so clearly that it looks a bit like one of those fake decoy ones !!!!!!! What I mean is, it is so perfect { ... am I digging myself a hole here ? } They are beautiful birds ....... if I had to have a favourite it would be the Kingfisher. XXXX
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it almost looks like a fake Heron. It wasn't, of course!
DeleteMy grandson told me that where ever there is an heron you should look for a smurf too.
ReplyDeleteYour grandson sounds very wise!
DeleteWe got to see 100s of these birds when we stayed at an island sanctuary in South Carolina this summer. It was an awesome sight seeing so many.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that they gathered in groups, I've only ever seen them alone.
DeleteThere were 64 types of herons. They are also called Egrets. My header picture shows two, but we could see many looking over the water in South Carolina. I do hope they survived the terrible weather and floods that have taken place there this week. I heard that the island had to be abandoned and things are desperate there now. Mother Nature unleashed her fury and it will take awhile to get back to what life used to be for all living things.
DeleteYou did it...what a creative idea using the field glasses. We have herons fly over here occasionally on there way to the Guelph Lake.
ReplyDeleteI expect we'll be having the Cranes fly over quite soon, on their way to Morocco. Wonderful sight.
DeleteWe have them visit our koi pond regularly; fortunately it is deep enough that none of the fish become breakfast.
ReplyDeleteWe used to put a large ceramic drain pipe at the bottom of the pond. As soon as the fish saw a Heron they'd dive for cover.
DeleteI do like herons, saw a white one this morning standing by the side of the lagoon, getting ready to go fishing no doubt.
ReplyDeleteA white Heron? Are you sure that wasn't an Egret?
DeleteOccasionally, a single heron will spend some time on the edges of the Central Park Lake. I didn't see one this year, but admit that the Park didn't see as much of me this year as in the past.
ReplyDeleteBetter luck for the heron and me next year.
Best wishes.
You have them in central NY; that's wonderful.
DeleteYou'd like our "heron field" then! I have no idea why, but it attracts herons...maybe it's marshy and full of frogs. I passed it yesterday evening and as I drove by, I counted 8 in the field! There may have been more that I didn't count as I flashed past. I wonder why they congregate there.
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