One Legged Birds?

  If you ever wander about a bayou like I often do, you start to ponder the whys and wherefores of a lot of things.  Just this morning, a questioned rambled about in the brain for a while even though I knew the "scientific" answer.  The mind-boggling part had nothing to do with the question of why shorebirds will stand on one leg but had everything to do with if they actually like standing on one leg.  It is a well-known fact that the herons, egrets and cranes around here stand on one leg to keep the other one snug up in their feathers.  Their long, spindly legs lose a lot of heat on these cold nights and mornings so standing on one while the other leg is tucked up under the feathers conserves a lot of heat...but do they like it?  Are they comfortable standing there for hours?  How do they not fall over?  (Think about it...would you be able to stand like that for hours?  I would not!)

  This morning, there were two birds on the end of the pier.  One was a tri-colored heron and the other a snowy egret.  Both were standing in their "unipedal" position, both were staring straight toward my brother's pier and both were oblivious to my presence.   There was just enough breeze to make the birds wobble a bit, now and again.  This is when the all-important question of whether they were happy started squirming its way into my mind.  Oh, how delightful it would be to converse with my fine feathered friends.  But, alas, that is not possible so the answer will never be known.

  I sat on the pier watching the birds for a good while.  Only once did they change positions and swap legs.  In fact, they did this in sync!  It was almost as if a timer was set and it was beeping a loud alarm saying "Time to swap legs!"  Watching them, I had to think how nice and warm their feather must feel to that cold leg! Speaking of warmth, it was time to head back inside.  It was, indeed, a bit chilly out and I do not plan on standing on one leg while tucking the other up in my jacket!