Post by bluegoatwoods on Jun 4, 2018 2:50:52 GMT -5
I just logged in and I hit the 'recent threads' icon at the top of the page. The page came up with the familiar line-up of threads. But the titles and most else were written in what appeared to be Japanese or Korean. So I backed up to the home page and tried again. Same thing. Either there's something wrong with this site or there's something wrong with my eyes.
No matter. I'll try again sometime soon.
And while I'm on here rambling I'll share a strange sight from last night at work. I work right on a body of water. It's a pretty good one, too, with some neat wildlife. One of the perks of working at this particular place.
There's a blue heron who makes pretty regular appearances. I've watched him for ten years now. I don't actually know their life-span. But ten years active doesn't sound unreasonable. I think it's the same bird because there's never been any changes in markings or size. (Though a bigger one, getting into 'crane' territory makes the occasional fly-0ver. I've also seen him several times as much as a few miles away. But.....anyway....)
I spotted this heron near the shore last night as I was walking along. So I stopped to watch him. He was standing upright and perfectly still, looking at the surface of the water. Then he poked his face forward and took a step. Then he straightened up kinda slow, stood still for a moment or two and poked his face forward and took another step. Obviously stalking a fish.
I was soon to lose my view of him because of a scrubby little maple tree growing in the fill below above the water's edge. But I had a little room to maneuver so I started taking slow and quiet steps to my right to keep him in view. Just then a hen and her ducklings show up from behind some more scrub just off the the right a bit. They were swimming in more or less a straight line toward this heron.
The question, "What interest do they have in this matter?" formed in my mind. But immediately I decided that they couldn't really be interested. I guess this was just the way they had chosen to go and they didn't notice the heron or they didn't care about him.
So this heron is stalking his fish, I'm stalking to the right to keep them in sight and this duck family is sailing along heedless, apparently, of the fact that they're getting close to bumping right into a heron's backside. Then I ran out of room. I came upon a fence and couldn't go further.
So this strange little group of birds passed behind that maple tree and I lost sight of them. So I turned and started walking away.
Then I heard, "Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack...."
It sounded just a little unnatural. Maybe muffled. It didn't sound panicky or terror-stricken. But it did sound urgent.
The picture formed in my mind of this duck family suddenly coming around this heron, spooking his fish and causing the heron to fly into a rage. "That was my dinner, you jerks!!!! A duckling or two will be just fine!!!"
I was thinking, "Would a heron eat a duckling?" I wouldn't have guessed it. But there's no reason to think he couldn't. He can surely handle fish that weigh more than that. The one he was hunting might have weighed five or six pounds. There's plenty of them to be had there.
And I walked away thinking that that's just what happened. But thinking about it a bit more I've come up with an alternative explanation. You see....the quacking I'd heard sounded a little more grown up than I think those ducklings would have sounded. I think they were still just "peepers".
I'm coming to think that what I heard was the hen. The heron probably didn't eat the hen. But he might have kicked her ass on out of there. The muffling I heard in her quacking might have been caused by the fact that her neck was in his beak while he shook her up.
"Get the hell out of here, you idiot!!"
I like the second interpretation better since it's a bit more comical without the duckling murder.
Still.....it's a rough world for a duckling.
No matter. I'll try again sometime soon.
And while I'm on here rambling I'll share a strange sight from last night at work. I work right on a body of water. It's a pretty good one, too, with some neat wildlife. One of the perks of working at this particular place.
There's a blue heron who makes pretty regular appearances. I've watched him for ten years now. I don't actually know their life-span. But ten years active doesn't sound unreasonable. I think it's the same bird because there's never been any changes in markings or size. (Though a bigger one, getting into 'crane' territory makes the occasional fly-0ver. I've also seen him several times as much as a few miles away. But.....anyway....)
I spotted this heron near the shore last night as I was walking along. So I stopped to watch him. He was standing upright and perfectly still, looking at the surface of the water. Then he poked his face forward and took a step. Then he straightened up kinda slow, stood still for a moment or two and poked his face forward and took another step. Obviously stalking a fish.
I was soon to lose my view of him because of a scrubby little maple tree growing in the fill below above the water's edge. But I had a little room to maneuver so I started taking slow and quiet steps to my right to keep him in view. Just then a hen and her ducklings show up from behind some more scrub just off the the right a bit. They were swimming in more or less a straight line toward this heron.
The question, "What interest do they have in this matter?" formed in my mind. But immediately I decided that they couldn't really be interested. I guess this was just the way they had chosen to go and they didn't notice the heron or they didn't care about him.
So this heron is stalking his fish, I'm stalking to the right to keep them in sight and this duck family is sailing along heedless, apparently, of the fact that they're getting close to bumping right into a heron's backside. Then I ran out of room. I came upon a fence and couldn't go further.
So this strange little group of birds passed behind that maple tree and I lost sight of them. So I turned and started walking away.
Then I heard, "Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack...."
It sounded just a little unnatural. Maybe muffled. It didn't sound panicky or terror-stricken. But it did sound urgent.
The picture formed in my mind of this duck family suddenly coming around this heron, spooking his fish and causing the heron to fly into a rage. "That was my dinner, you jerks!!!! A duckling or two will be just fine!!!"
I was thinking, "Would a heron eat a duckling?" I wouldn't have guessed it. But there's no reason to think he couldn't. He can surely handle fish that weigh more than that. The one he was hunting might have weighed five or six pounds. There's plenty of them to be had there.
And I walked away thinking that that's just what happened. But thinking about it a bit more I've come up with an alternative explanation. You see....the quacking I'd heard sounded a little more grown up than I think those ducklings would have sounded. I think they were still just "peepers".
I'm coming to think that what I heard was the hen. The heron probably didn't eat the hen. But he might have kicked her ass on out of there. The muffling I heard in her quacking might have been caused by the fact that her neck was in his beak while he shook her up.
"Get the hell out of here, you idiot!!"
I like the second interpretation better since it's a bit more comical without the duckling murder.
Still.....it's a rough world for a duckling.
