Mr. Blue

We always keep an eye out for any one of the many herons which come to the pond to fish. A bit later into the summer, we'll begin to see the Night heron with great regularity and at some point, I hope to see a few more visits from the Green heron. Right now, not a day has gone by that we haven't seen the Great Blue heron.

A few days ago, we were walking the usual path around my local park. We spotted Mr. Blue across the pond and we slowly made our way around until we were fairly close. We wondered if our nearness would spook him and if all we'd be left with is a flurry of wings and the ripples in the water where he stood. But Mr. Blue was very cooperative. He allowed us to watch him as he showed off his great fishing expertise. He ambled back and forth in front of us catching minnows. Here are a few photos from this day.

His beautiful, sharp eye kept a cautious watch as he went about his fishing expedition.

A serious dunking of his head came up short. No fish in that attempt,

Just a wet head to shake and flick all over the pond.

But all his patience pays off eventually.

I guess that they need to close their nictitating membrane (or third eyelid) to protect their eyes while fishing. Try zooming in on this, or any photo by hitting Control+ (Command+ on a Mac). Hitting Control or Command- will bring it back down to size afterward.

More photos coming up soon.