Confused Heron

From my June 2012 nature journal...
Great Blue Heron
© Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 20052938 - Great Blue Heron; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. June 11, 2012.

I was on the last half-mile stretch of my daily 35 mile commute when I spotted a Great Blue Heron standing in a neighbor’s front yard, right next to the sidewalk. “Now that’s weird”, I thought to myself. He was standing alongside a dry, rock-lined drainage ditch as if he were fishing for food. But that little drainage ditch was dry!

Only after heavy rains does that drain have any water, and even then it is only about an inch deep. But I suppose from up in the air, with the sun reflecting off the concrete, it may look like a tiny stream. Somehow it had attracted his attention.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is the largest North American heron. It is a year-round resident in Georgia. Their primary diet is fish, but I have photographed plenty snapping up frogs, snakes, dragonflies and other insects.

Looking more closely, I could see his feathers weren’t fully formed. Short, neatly rowed, un-tattered feathers lined his side and back. There were no long plumes down his back or from the crown of the head like the typical adult heron. Perhaps this was an inexperienced juvenile, striking out on his own to find new feeding grounds. Well, he wasn’t going to find any fish in a dry, cement lined drainage ditch!

  • Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
Posted on 11 de junho de 2022, 03:51 PM by williamwisephoto williamwisephoto

Observações

Fotos / Sons

What

Garça-Real-Americana (Ardea herodias)

Observador

williamwisephoto

Data

Junho 11, 2012 05:43 PM EDT

Descrição

2012 photo journal. Possible juvenile; Clarke County, Georgia. Standing alongside a dry, cement-lined drainage ditch like he was fishing for food. That little ditch only has water after heavy rains, and even then it is about an inch deep. I supposed the rocky edges and sun reflecting off the concrete lined rut had attracted his attention. http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/juvenile-great-blue-heron

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