Outwitting the Perils of the Bayou!

  The food chain is constantly at work here on the Bayou.  There is an everyday predator vs prey battle waging in the marshes.  It is a nonstop reality of how life is so very fleeting.  One's very survival can completely hinge upon how wily one is.  Life is indeed a struggle at its best.

  I have watched a young Great Blue Heron from the time it was a wee fledgling.  When I first discovered the tot roaming about the Bayou, it appeared far too young to be on its own.  At the time, I wondered if its mother had met her demise or had merely become bred again before her little ones were fully ready to be ousted from her care.  Whatever the cause, Squirt was trying to survive by pecking at anything that wiggled.  I made a point of tossing a few menhaden or small mullet his way whenever I could.  I rooted for this bird merely because he had spunk!  The little guy was not giving up!  He tried!  Although, Squirt was not above begging for a handout, he learned to hunt with the best of them!  The shallows offered plenty of tidbits once he learned the fine art of darting and pecking but finding food was only one of the perils the bird had to face.  When he was small, there was the constant threat of fox, bobcats, hawks and even raccoons.  Any one of these would be able to make a meal out of a young heron but Squirt managed to evade them all!

  Today, Mark and I happened upon Squirt as he stood fishing for mullet in the Bayou.  There was just enough water in the Bayou for him to stand well-hidden in the edge of the marsh.  From this vantage point, he could watch for small fishes to come around the bend in the Bayou.  As they would turn the corner, he would snatch them.  One after another, Squirt caught his fill of mullet!  He had learned the art of fishing and was well on his way to adulthood now.

  It made me proud to think that this bird was determined enough to survive in the harsh world of the marsh.  Now that he has almost reached his adult size of nearly of around four feet, he has pretty much outgrown his predators except for the extremely large ones.  My little Squirt might have to acquire a new name!