The Great Blue Heron

It was an apparition.  He wasn’t really there, was he?  The reeds were contorted so as to resemble a tall bird with ornate wispy plumes at his breast and on his head.  He has a crook neck and he wades invisibly and at a statue’s pace near the edge of the pond among the yellow irises and papyrus.   

My eyes had surely deceived me but then, he took flight.  The creaking sound of his wings reverberated like the heavy door to an inner sanctum being opened after many long years of being shut, its hinges in dire need of a few drops of oil. 

Of course the Great Blue Heron’s pinions were hardly in need of oil but the comparison serves to illustrate just how much effort was needed for the bird to become air borne.

Years ago, I walked with my old dog Bo Jangles by a meandering stream (now drainage ditch) and I felt badly when Bo would call up a storm and set the Heron to laborious flight.  Bo was not a malicious dog, he was only greeting his neighbours with puppy bark and playful stance. 

The Heron, in time, learned to ignore the old dog but cautiously  kept himself to the far side of the little stream and remained well hidden in the reeds. 

In flight, the Heron, with his folded neck and dangling long legs looks like some primordial bird, an escape from Jurassic Park, but then birds are a remnant hailing from the age of the dinosaurs so it is only natural that they should look like primordial creatures. 

Herons require very tall trees in which to nest. Their preference is to build one hundred feet above the ground. Often times, cliffs are a substitute location for nesting as giant trees become increasingly scarce.

We had a lofty tree on our little plot.  It was a giant Bass wood tree situated in the sacred hedgerow with other mature trees along side.  Every night as the sun was sinking we would watch as the Heron made her lonely flight in the direction of the Giant Bass wood.  The bird guides indicate Herons nest in colonies and both parents rear the young but this was not in our experience. 

When the autumn had revealed the stalwart limbs of the noble great trees, many nests could be counted at various heights and surprisingly in close proximity.   Beneath the ancient hedgerow along the rugged path, the dogs’ loved to run their noses through the crisp leaves of the Bass Wood which lay in dense lofts upon the ground. 

Looking upward, we saw a huge nest near the top of the towering tree.  We suspected it was the Heron’s nest.

The Heron is a fisher with keen eyesight and a very strong and dangerous bill.  It is wise never to attempt rescuing an injured heron as he can stab with great force.

Artisan creations of the Great Blue Heron are becoming increasingly popular as decorative yard art among the water gardener set.