Into the Wind

  Mark and I were on the pier the other day when he noticed some egrets standing near the Bayou. Since he was toting my camera, he took several photographs of the birds for me.  Since the egrets were quite a distance from us, we could not even identify what type of egret they were.  We just knew that the setting sun was gleaming on their white plumage making them even more beautiful than normal.  We did notice that the whole row of maybe seven or eight birds were all facing the same way...into the wind.  Now that was strange!

  After a bit, I started thinking about our row of birds.  Why in the world would a group of birds stand facing into the wind?  If I was out there in the freezing cold and a stiff north wind was bearing down on me, I would seek some sort of windbreak. If the birds had just moved a couple of hundred feet to the west and hugged the shoreline, the tall marsh grass would have blocked a good bit of that wind.  Then again, perhaps they felt safer out in the middle of the mudflat.  Not many predators could sneak up on them out there in the open.  But, why were they all facing north?  After a bit, I turned away from the birds to look toward the south.  My long hair immediately got in my eyes obscuring my vision.  Ahhh, ok.  Now the enigma makes sense.  I imagine that the birds were facing north so their feathers were not being ruffled by the stiff wind thus keeping them much warmer.  Ok, so birds are smart.  

  There is still the question of why the birds were standing in a row, though.  Perhaps they were standing according to rank...who knows? Nope, I have that one figured out as well. The north wind had blown most of the water out of the Bay and nigh on all of the water from parts of the Bayou. Only a small rivulet trickled from the back of the Bayou. All of the birds were standing along the edge of this tiny stream.  These smart egrets were snatching up any minnows that were trying to escape to deeper water. 

  Ahh, the mysteries of the Bayou! We shall solve them one by one! Today's mystery of why egrets face the wind and stand in rows has been explained!