Protecting His Territory

  Herons are funny birds.  They have no problem with nesting in huge colonies called heronries where there may be hundreds of mating couples nesting but let it come to food and they are fiercely territorial.  Let a heron find a good feeding spot and no one had better fly in to take advantage of his luck.  A heron is not willing to share his bounty even when his "cup is overflowing".  

  Early this morning, the trip to the pier proved interesting, to say the least.   With Hurricane Michael brewing out in the Gulf, our tide was a lot higher than normal.  With water lapping at the top of the pier boards, it seemed like a good fishing day.  After bait was caught, I had a visitor.  My old friend, Moe, came flying in to beg for breakfast.  This is the heron that I started feeding several months ago.  The youngster would come thrice daily to get his belly full of menhaden, mullet or little croakers.  He came for a few months then disappeared.  This morning, he must have been hungry as he came back to where he always got a sure meal.  I obliged and caught the bird an entire net full of menhaden.  He happily dined on the feast laid out before him.  Once his appetite was sated, he flew to a pier post to preen.  All was well and happy until...the interloper came.

  Another young heron came by to grab a bite of leftovers and that did not set well with Moe.  He was not in the mood to share his leftovers with anyone!   At first, the squabble was nothing more than a few squawks, the puffing up of feathers and the flapping of wings with the birds perched on posts about 20 feet apart. The interloper was insistent on grabbing a bite.  Things quickly turned ugly.  Moe left his perch to fly in behind the other bird.  Pow!  Moe hit the interloper with a mighty whack!  Both birds battled midair until Moe overpowered the smaller bird and sent him reeling into the water.  There the battle continued until the interloper flew to the opposite end of the pier.  The fight did not end there.  Moe followed the bird and hit him again.  Finally, Moe chased the interloper to the other side of the Bayou.  Moe had won...sort of...while  they were fighting, a seagull made quick work of the menhaden!