Trading One Heron For Another

   Months ago, a young Great Blue Heron was a thrice daily visitor to the pier.  The young bird came to beg for handouts of menhaden or little mullet.  I was happy to oblige simply because these birds fascinate me. Their feeding habits, territorial disputes and nesting sites are all points of interest.  The bird was dubbed as Moe and he soon became a social media favorite as I posted plenty of photos of him.  He became almost too tame and insisted on being my "best friend"...as long as I was plying him with food.  Then Moe became a no-show.  I have no idea whether something dire happened to my friend or whether he just moved on to a new territory.  Either is a possibility.  

  Now, a new bird is in town!  This morning while Mark and I were on the pier, a very young bird flew in to pay us a visit.  This was not a Great Blue but rather a Tri-colored Heron.  I was impressed with the fact that the bird already has most of its adult plumage even though it is still rather tiny (as far as herons go).   This one was not sure about coming to dine but lingered up the pier from us.  I did, however, get rather close to it when I was leaving the pier.  The bird did not want to fly.  It just sort of side-stepped me as I passed it.  

  Hopefully, our new-found friend will come back in the morning to get a handout.  If it does, this bird, too, will receive a name.  I figure that all of our friends should be on a "first name basis" with us so the Tri-colored will soon have his own unique name.  (The only name that gets repeated is Old Gus.  This is the name of almost every Brown Pelican in the Bay!  With the exception of two named by our little granddaughter. They are Gus and Cinderella! Now, if only she was here to pick a name for our new friend but she is far, far away at the moment naming things on a tropical island!)  The Tri-colored Heron will be stuck with an unimaginative name, I suppose.

The Bird That Named Itself

  Most of the time, people give names to things.  This applies to critters, as well.   Birds' names may obviously be due to color...such as bluebirds...or may be attached to some person who "discovered the bird"...such as the Wilson's snipe that recently visited the Bayou.  Rarely, however, does a critter get to name itself.  One did.  The killdeer screamed its name loudly and long enough until folks realized that it was telling us its name.  When the bird takes off in flight, most folks claim that the bird's call sounds as if it is saying "killdeer".  Since the bird had no malice toward Bambi (or any other deer), it was quite clear that it just wanted us to call it by the correct moniker.

  The winter tides have been inviting to all sorts of shorebirds.  They come to forage the mudflats in hopes of a quick meal.  Tiny crustaceans and minnows are often trapped in the miniature tide pools (tide puddles?) that fill low places in the mud.  Sometimes, these low places are nothing more than a footprint of a bird previously in the area.  This morning, several killdeer were busy working the shoreline.  They ran up and down the mudflat, all the while, bobbing their heads like a working sewing machine.  All was quiet except for their insistence in telling me their names.

  Watching the winter visitors to the Bayou would not be complete without seeing the killdeer.  Although they are here year round, it seems that they are more easily seen during the winter months.  Since the birds prefer wide open spaces, the mudflats give me the opportunity to have them come for a visit.  This also gives me the opportunity to ponder things like their names.  The Bayou critters do keep me thinking!

A Friendship Waiting To Happen

  Back during December, the grandlittles came to visit for a few days.  I was happy to see that they loved being on the pier as much as I do and my sweet granddaughter took to naming the critters she found.  A pair of Brown Pelicans seemed to adore her and came to beg a meal from her.  I showed her how she could toss minnows to the birds.  After that, the bait bucket thinned rapidly as she fed the two hungry birds every minnow she could catch.  These two pelicans were dubbed "Gus and Cinderella".  Well, Miss Mary Ruth needs to come up with a few more names as we seem to have gained a few youngsters to our clan of pelicans.  

  One bird in particular seems to be a good candidate as a friend for Miss Mary Ruth and Master Mark Charles.  This youngster already knows that a free meal is for the taking if he just begs a bit.  Whenever I am on the pier and throwing the net, this pelican flies around and around the pier just to see if anything will be tossed his way.  And...as teenage boys always seem to be...this guy is always hungry!  You cannot fill up this bird's belly!  As long as you toss fish, he feeds.

  Miss Mary Ruth is to be here in August so I sure hope the pelican hangs around for her visit.  She can name this one, as well!  I am sure this will be a friendship in the making.  It sure makes me happy to know that the grandlittles are being raised to love all critters and to respect nature.  

A Goby By Any Other Name?

  Several years ago, I caught a rather weird looking fish in the net.  Growing up, I had been told this was a certain type of fish and I never questioned it.  But now, it is a different story.  I question things. I found out that some fifty years of calling the fish a Cigarfish was naught but folly.  This was no Cigarfish.  My "expert" fish identifier informed me that this was a Goby.  Yes!  Ok, so what is a Goby?  I pondered the fact.  This expert went so far as to label the fish as a "Violet Goby".  Ok.   Pretty name for a rather nondescript fish if it was supposed to be violet.  Still, I took his word for it since he was my "expert".  Then a kind reader was so gracious about correcting the name for me.  The reader informed me that my critter was, indeed, a Goby but not of the violet sort.  My Goby friend was a Highfin Goby.  Wow!  The reader also explained a bit about how Highfin Gobies range from the Alabama Coast all the way to Brazil.  Needless to say, I was thrilled with the information.  I can proudly say that I know the name of the fishy!

  Now another Goby has made an appearance via the net.  This one did its duty and stayed rather motionless for me while I snapped a few photos.  I was even able to get a nice closeup of its face.  What a cutie!  Sort of...if you like weird fish faces. I do.  Fish and other critters fascinate me so I think they are all rather cute....in a critter sort of way.

  I am supposing that this is another of the same sort of Goby...a Highfin Goby.  I may have been calling it by the wrong name for years and years but at least now I know it is a Goby. After a few photographs, my new found friend was slipped back into the water.  Swim, Little Goby, swim!  You are free!  Thank you for visiting!

So That's Why!

  I am one of those weird people that ponder the most unusual things. Things like why did someone ever give a critter a name like "elephant" or "mouse" or "butterfly"?  What possessed the early folks to call a frog by the name "frog" or owl by the name "owl"?  There has to be some logical reason.  Sure, most of those are common names and the critter has some unpronounceable scientific name but why?  What gives? Sometimes there is a bit of logic, I guess...be it an appearance or action that dictated the name but others are just pure made up words.  Case in point.."aardvark" or "platypus".  Yep, I think those are there just to confuse us.  The name for today's critter is easily explained and you will see why in the photographs!

  Out on the back porch, there sits a small table and two chairs.  Mark had used these, today, as he boiled a bunch of crabs.  Obviously, he left a bit of "crab smell" on the tray and table afterwards because flies were quickly gathering.  I was just about to snatch the tray and give it a good scrubbing when I was halted in my tracks.  It is not good to disturb anyone in the midst of prayers.  A Praying Mantis was also on the tray and appeared to be praying for (or giving thanks for) its next meal.  As I watched, the little mantis actually tilted its head skyward and appeared fully to be praying.  At that exact moment, a fat fly landed on the tray next to the mantis!  Had God answered a bug's prayer?  Hey, why not? God made the bugs so who says they cannot pray to him?

  The Praying Mantis does appear to be praying with its "hands" folded in front of it but that action of looking skyward did, indeed, make it appear that the bug believed in some higher power.  Perhaps the mantis could teach humans a thing or two about being thankful.  It seems as if a lot of us have let that go the wayside.