It's Heron Season

There seems to be a few less ducks hanging around the pond during my last couple of visits. This morning there were only two and they stayed close to the shore on the opposite side of the pond.


It would seem that early fall is the season of the heron at the Fish Pond.

There has been at least one and as many as three of the large birds hanging around for the last two or three weeks. Watching how they interact at first I thought it was an older pair trying to run off a younger bird, perhaps one of their offspring. If that is the case it appears as though it hasn't worked. The younger bird seems to have decided he's gone far enough and has laid claim to the pond.

All three of the herons were around this morning and the one I have thought to be the younger bird was the one doing the chasing.


One of what I think is the older birds was stalking around near the ponds inlet stream to my right when the other two glided in from over the tree tops on my left. The older one landed in the water while what I have assume is the younger one maneuvered his way into the trees on the opposite bank.

The older bird waded around for a bit the hopped up onto what I am going to start calling the community tree since it is used by just about every kind of bird that visits the pond.


It sat there for more than half an hour watching the water and moving only slightly a couple of times. All at once he lurched forward and into the water so fast it startled me.


He came up with a small trout that he held for a minute or two then swallowed in one quick gulp.


While he shook out his feathers and cleaned his beak the younger bird snuck along the bank until it felt it was in the perfect position to jump at the other adult bird that was hunting near the stream. The older bird took off and made a beeline to the lowest point in the tree line where it disappeared. The younger bird then almost immediately went after the remaining adult driving it off as well.


He spent a few minutes strutting around the shallow area of the pond before one of the adults returned. It came in very low from my left and went straight at the one that had chased him only moments earlier. He did his best eagle imitation, flying right up to the younger bird with its feet fully extended and sounding off like it was going to land on him. Stopping just short of his target he reversed course in mid air and left from the way he came.

If the plan was to reclaim his fishing spot it didn’t work. The younger bird stayed put working his way in and out of the stream opening until I had to leave.


Of course chances are that I have my entire picture of the situation wrong. It could well be that what I feel is the younger bird could actually be the adult and the others its young. I get the feeling that I will be researching Great Gray Herons in more detail in the near future.

At any rate it I don’t know if it’s possible to adequately describe how beautiful these large birds are as the fly around the pond in the early morning light. When the fly near you its almost like you can feel the air pushing from under their wings more than you hear it. It is a truly amazing thing to be a part of.

Get outside and find your own amazing part of the world. Life is all around you just have to get out there and find them.

Have a great one.

Kevin