Green Heron

22 August 2014. Hamilton, ON. What impressed me about today’s Bird of the Day, a young Green Heron, was the necessary smallness of its world, an algae-draped corner in a broad and shallow pond. A corner of a pond, which, in turn, is a backwater in a large, natural harbour, itself an afterthought of Lake Ontario. It might be intriguing to find the heron by using a film-maker’s zoom-in technique, starting at the International Space Station and plunging through layer upon layer and eventually slowing to a landscape of increasing familiarity. Finding the heron would not be nearly the end of the story. It’s the fish that matter to the heron and little wriggly invertebrates that matter to the fish, and on down the food chain; just a link in a chain.

As I said, I found this young Green Heron in an algae-draped clutter of discarded branches and other debris. It was motionless, as if modeling for an Athenian sculptor, frozen in mid-lunge. I watched it hold the most improbable, apparently unbalanced, positions for many minutes at a time: mid stride, mid strike, eyes fixed and waiting. Several times I saw the tension build, a touch more forward tilt and then, as if a tight-coiled spring released, it plunged with wings spread. Successfully it drew back holding a small, utterly baffled fish, its mouth agape, eyes wide and tail flicking hopelessly. I’ve added a few pictures, but you can see many more by following this link.