I'm addicted to heron!

With the change of seasons comes a change in the visitors to our yard. We still have the birds that are usually only around for the colder months, such as the juncos, but the goldfinches are transitioning from their murkier colors to their more vibrant green-gold colors, the red-winged blackbirds and the cowbirds are showing up, and then there's been this guy visiting the pond a lot lately...


Look close - I assure you - he's back there!


Ok, so my cool little camera really doesn't do so great with long-distance pictures. At 16x digital zoom, and trying to stabilize it by holding it up against a window, I still get some REALLY blurry pics. So I decided to try something different...I held it up to the non-scratched eye-hole/lens (the other IS scratched) of this pair of binoculars that my dad had when we were kids. My folks don't use 'em and so they let me have them last year when I started commenting on all the wildlife we see out the back door.

Y'know what? It kinda worked! Sorta!


Wait, didn't have it pressed up against the lens hard enough. Here we go...


Those pics still aren't great, and trust me, there's a LOT of discarded pics that were a mess. But some of these aren't too bad.

Now the heron will usually just freeze in place if I'm letting Doogie out while the bird's in the pond, or if I'm moving around outside while staying fairly close to the house. But it doesn't take too much to spook him/her... And I tell ya, when that thing's in flight, it's like having a pteradactyl in the backyard!


Unfortunately, I can't zoom in and get good shots - there's just too much motion for the camera to focus. Oh well - the distance shots are pretty darn cool!


And considering how big the bird is, it's hard to believe it still finds places to sit up in the trees! This particular time I sat there and waaaaited and waaaaaited, hoping he'd fly some more (without me trying to spook him), or perhaps even coast down to a landing. The bird's more patient than I am...I gave up after about 5 minutes.


I half expect the branches to break out from under him, but being a bird, I'm sure he's all hollow-boned and, as they say, light as a feather.



It's also fun to watch him walking around, bobbing his neck back and forth with each step. I guess you're kinda missing that effect here, eh?



Here, maybe these two videos will help. And I hope you enjoy the commentary from me and Brett watching him...