Thursday, August 20, 2020

Grey Heron Sunbathing

 Typically we see grey heron standing by water's edge patiently waiting for fishes to swim by.

by Russell Creek pond


Tuesday Morning I walked around the pond by myself with my camera, nothing special happening. No egrets, no heron.  I did not even turn on the camera.

But I continued to scan the surroundings,  as I reached the west side of the pond, I noticed a large grey wing in a pine tree just above my head. Backup a few steps, I saw a big great grey heron standing in the tree.

I stood by the tree to observe it.

It stood there, looking into east and the pound, turning its head from side to side, preening. I moved around taking pictures from different angles.

Then I noticed that the heron opened its wings, seemingly to dry the inside.  After a while it closed its wings still standing there to enjoy the sunshine.

By then I was there over 10  minutes. I was hoping the heron would take off so that I could take a picture of it. A few minutes passed, it did not move at all.

I decided to leave it alone, just then a guy with a dog walked by. He saw me taking pictures of the heron, and made a conversation with me saying that he never saw heron standing in the tree before. His voice was not too loud. But our chat apparently annoyed the big heron, it took off from its perch, screamed as it flew over the pound, made a turn and left the area!

I felt a bit guilty because I disturbed the great heron from enjoying the sunshine in peace. 

In a tree by the pond 


Preening


Sunbathing by opening its wings 

Wings back to normal positions


Flying away with a scream!

No comments:

Post a Comment