Cleanup on Aisle 17 – Look Who’s Helping Marge
Look who’s helping Marge clean up the lake.
Wonder what this Great Blue Heron is thinking.
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Thanks to Ben Huberman and WordPress for their Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers. The plastic bag being held by this Great Blue Heron at one point contained something large, larger than a king-sized pillow to be sure. Allow me a non-sequitur of sorts. A kayaking friend, Margie, has been paddling the lake for many years, and each time she goes out, she makes a point of retrieving as much trash as she can carry back on her kayak. (Sometimes that trash is in the form of sodden dollar bills, but I digress.) Last weekend, she retrieved one of those huge orange barrels traditionally used to block off traffic lanes that had somehow tumbled down the hillside and into the lake. (Wish I had a photo of that barrel perched on her kayak’s bow.) A few weeks before that, Marge rescued a fledgling heron chick that was spluttering and splashing in the water. (Really, really wish I had a photo of that rescue.) Margie is one of my heroes for that.
Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for hosting the Wild Bird Wednesday challenge.
Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron, Ecology
Posted on July 22, 2014, in ardea herodias, Art, Audubon, Birds, Ecology, Great Blue Heron, Nature, Photography, Photography challenge, postaday, Weekly Photo Challenge, Wild Bird Wednesday, Wildlife Photography, Wordless Wednesday and tagged great blue heron, postaday. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
Babsje Heron 
I generally carry a plastic bag to pick up trash on the beach. I probably don’t make much of a dent, but I figure it can’t hurt. I wouldn’t mind a helping hand from a GBH. I would have loved to see pictures of the two events you mentioned.
I’m not at all surprised that you do that, you are such a good steward of your environment there! I cleanup as much as I can, the biggest object I retrieved was a plastic deck chair, that I had to carry back to shore balanced across the front deck, but Marge has made a science of it. I think before the orange barrels, her biggest haul was a bicycle. Would have made a fun photo, a bicycle on a kayak. Glad you like this one, thanks. Also, from your last comment about holograms, there are DIY hologram kits out there for less than $100, laser included.
I am always collecting trash in the wild. This is a neat photo.
Hi Karen – Great, glad you’re picking up trash out there, keep it up. And glad you liked this photo,,thanks!
What an interesting shot! I do hope he didn’t try to eat the bag!
Hi Betty – Nope, she flew off and shook herself free of the bag, which had become snagged on her lower bill, so a happy ending. Glad you like this one, thanks!
She is saying – whose trash is this?? I am going to find you and take you to your nest, where you will be grounded with no supper or tv or computer. Then you will have to clean up the whole lake, the shore, my nest and everyone else’s nest and I get a back feather rub. Got all of that????????
Bravo, what a comment!! Big smiles, thanks for your imaginative take on things!
we can learn from the herons!
Indeed we can, thanks Cindy!
It would have been great if the heron had dropped that slimy bag on the jerk that dumped it!
Indeed, you are so right! Thanks.
HI ” lovely stories you told and indeed I certainly would have loved to see the barrel on the kayak Now I do hope the Heron did not attempt to eat the rubbish.
Hi Margaret – Thanks, I’m glad you like this post. Fortunately, she did not try to eat the plastic bag. She flew off with it stuck on her lower bill and after landing on the shore, she shook it vigorously from side to side – much like a dog shaking a rag – and the bag came loose. About a month later, I found the bag on the opposite side of the lake. Definitely the same plastic bag – it had triangular holes punctured by the heron’s bill.
All I can think of to say is Oh My!
That was my experience watching it unfold – oh my! Glad you like it. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Great photo! I’m not sure just what he’s holding or what he plans to do with it, though.
Won’t you please share your shot at the new home for Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)? The link for this week’s edition is here:
http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2014/07/wish-i-were-there1.html
Hi Sue – many thanks, I’m glad you like this one. And thank you for pointing me in the direction of the new Wordless Wednesday!
Thanks to Margie for cleaning up! Amazing shot of the heron!
Hi Eileen – many thanks for your kind comment, and yes – Margie is a gem when it comes to stewardship of the waters.