Early Morning Friend!

  Nature never ceases to amaze me.  I am the type person who can see a bird every day and, yet, be just as awed by its beauty the thousandth time as the first.  It is this way with all of nature from the tiniest moss spore to the vastness of the starry night sky but birds hold a special place with me for some reason.  It is not just their outward beauty that attracts me.  They also pique an interest with their intelligence.  I have never met a stupid (or insolent) bird.  Hmmm...to bad I cannot say the same for humans.

  Near the pier, there can usually be found any number of waterfowl or shorebirds.  One of the most interesting birds (and perhaps smartest!) is the Green Heron.  The bird's fishing techniques rivals even the best of human anglers.  And...indeed...they DO fish.  The Green Heron has perfected a fishing technique of using bait to catch larger fish.  It works every time and, more oft than not, the bird can catch a bellyful of fish and still have the bait to eat as dessert!  It is just that smart. The Green Heron is one of the few critters that have mastered the art of tool usage! But with all of that brilliance comes beauty.  The Green Heron usually just looks dark or almost black.  Then, in the perfect light, the back shows a gorgeous iridescent green   The feathers actually shimmer in the sunlight!

   This "winter" (and I use that term loosely here since it is still in the eighties.), a lone Green Heron stands guard at the pier.  In the early morn, the bird can be seen roosting on a dead trunk of a small tree but by sunup, it moves to the small tide pool.  There, the bird will feed on bull minnows and tiny crabs.  I love watching the bird and, here lately, it has no qualms about me being within a few feet of it while it feeds.  It still has not gotten as brave as some of the other herons about letting me hand feed it but perhaps that will come in time.  In the meantime, I shall be happy photographing my friend and being awed by another part of nature here on the Bayou.