Heron stands with baited hook
A single step and darkness falls.
A mature Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) has haunted the shores of Dalhousie Lake for many seasons, and I always look for her return in April. These great birds live for as long as seventeen years, and there is a strong possibility that this magnificent heron is the same one I have been observing along the shoreline for so many years.
She (or perhaps he) landed majestically in the shallows with hardly a ripple and nary a sound last weekend — there she stood in quiet grandeur and untroubled patience until after the sun had gone down in flames over the the west end of the lake, and I could no longer see her clearly. Curled up in the lee of an overturned rowboat on that damp evening, I was perfectly content and out of the cold north wind — it is an incandescent experience of the first order to share nightfall with a Great Blue Heron, and I cherish the thought of a heron rookery in the trees nearby, or is that a heronry?
One of my dreams for the coming summer is to take a photo of the Great Blue Heron who visits my beaver pond at sunrise.
This photo just drew an "oooooh" from me. Couldn't help it. It's like sinking into that blue with the heron. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou are so blessed to have a Heron neighbor. I hope you get that sunrise Heron photo you dream of.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Heron showed up for me in the Greenwood... things shifted in astounding ways... I am delighted that she feels so at home with you... you are a truly wild, crone, elder, woman!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Julie
The Great Blues are some of my favorite birds... They regularly fly high overhead but --- all my camera catches are small gray dots against the sky.
ReplyDeleteThis photo calls to me... Your words let me --- for a moment - share with you the beauty of this lovely experience
Oh, thank you for sharing.
I do hope you get the photo of the Great Blue Heron at sunrise!