Herons Have Feet!

  Earlier today, Mark and I headed to the pier.  I had one of those days where the best thing to do was escape.  The pier and all of its peace beckoned so I heeded the call.  There I can relax and the cares of the world cannot reach me.  While there, I decided to catch a few little mullet to feed the young heron.  A few days ago, the poor, little rascal was attacked by a large male heron.  Obviously, the larger, older male was defending its territory and the youngster was viewed as a threat.  I was happy to see the young bird back begging for handouts.  The bird and I have bonded somewhat.  As I was tossing mullet the young bird, I asked Mark to photograph my attempts at hand feeding the critter.  This did not go well.  Both the bird and Mark had problems with my feeding attempts.  The bird was not overly confident about being so close to me and, well, Mark was new to this "behind the camera" bit.  I am the one usually taking the pictures but he humored me and tried.

  The first dozen or so photographs are great if you ever wanted to study the feet of a Great Blue Heron.  For some reason, that is all that Mark captured with the camera.  Eleven photographs of a bird's feet are comical if nothing else.  After a bit, however, Mark got it right and captured some great photos but none of me hand feeding the heron since the bird did not cooperate.  Obviously, its going to take a some patience to tame the bird enough to give it a mullet "up close and personal". 

  The young heron will most likely be chased from the area soon.  While herons usually nest in colonies of up to 500 birds, they will defend their feeding territories from intruders.  Most of the time, they have no problem with other Great Blues but they are know to chase other birds and even humans away.  My little friend was the recipient of a rather rude bump on the head by the larger bird but he still came back to beg for handouts.  Training one to accept food from the hand is a long, drawn out process but I have the patience.  Plus!  This gives Mark a little more practice with the camera!