Earlier today, Mark and I headed to the pier. I had one of those days where the best thing to do was escape. The pier and all of its peace beckoned so I heeded the call. There I can relax and the cares of the world cannot reach me. While there, I decided to catch a few little mullet to feed the young heron. A few days ago, the poor, little rascal was attacked by a large male heron. Obviously, the larger, older male was defending its territory and the youngster was viewed as a threat. I was happy to see the young bird back begging for handouts. The bird and I have bonded somewhat. As I was tossing mullet the young bird, I asked Mark to photograph my attempts at hand feeding the critter. This did not go well. Both the bird and Mark had problems with my feeding attempts. The bird was not overly confident about being so close to me and, well, Mark was new to this "behind the camera" bit. I am the one usually taking the pictures but he humored me and tried.
The first dozen or so photographs are great if you ever wanted to study the feet of a Great Blue Heron. For some reason, that is all that Mark captured with the camera. Eleven photographs of a bird's feet are comical if nothing else. After a bit, however, Mark got it right and captured some great photos but none of me hand feeding the heron since the bird did not cooperate. Obviously, its going to take a some patience to tame the bird enough to give it a mullet "up close and personal".
The young heron will most likely be chased from the area soon. While herons usually nest in colonies of up to 500 birds, they will defend their feeding territories from intruders. Most of the time, they have no problem with other Great Blues but they are know to chase other birds and even humans away. My little friend was the recipient of a rather rude bump on the head by the larger bird but he still came back to beg for handouts. Training one to accept food from the hand is a long, drawn out process but I have the patience. Plus! This gives Mark a little more practice with the camera!
I see a lot of things down near the Bayou. Critters abound in the marshes and one can get a good view of them by just sitting quietly and waiting. The pier sits high enough above the marsh grass that it allows for the perfect coverage of what creeps beneath it. This is where I wait....and wait....until some creature crawls, walks or swims into my view. Most have no fear of me since I spend a good deal of time there. The birds in particular seem to accept my presence with no qualms. Of these, the rails have come to know me and will actually bring their broods out to feed while I am within just a few feet of them. They are sure that I mean no harm and probably feel a bit safer with me being there.
I pondered the rail, today, as one youngster hunted for his mid-afternoon snack. Obviously, this little fellow was new at being on his own as he had not perfected the skill of hunting. He would scamper across the mudflats while chasing fiddler crabs or wade a bit in the shallows hoping to snatch a minnow or two. He was not having the best of luck. My thoughts went more to how he was able to move so quickly across the soft mud. Any other critter would have difficulty staying atop the mushy stuff. From personal experience (don't ask!), a person would literally sink up to their thighs in the Bayou mud. The rail, like all other shorebirds, have extremely large feet. Although they are mostly toes, the bird uses its feet for stability. The toes being splayed outward lets the bird distribute its weight across a greater area thus allowing it to walk on top of the mud. We, unlike the birds, have our weight centered on relatively small feet. The small surface area under our feet is not able to support our weight on the softness so we sink. A rail weighs less than four ounces so the large feet can easily keep the bird from sinking deep into the mud.
This tiny rail easily tripped across the mud in search of food. I am happy to say that the bird finally did manage to catch several minnows so his belly was full for the night. Come morning, he will be on the hunt again and those large feet will serve him well!
