Great Blue Heron and One Magical Feather – (Not So Wordless Wednesday)

Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather – babsjeheron

… I go and lie down where the wood drake rests
in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
or grief. I come into the presence of still water.

Wendell Berry
The Peace of Wild Things (excerpt)
The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Doesn’t this Great Blue Heron holding a seagull feather bring to mind a friendly dog playfully carrying his favorite toy back to you, wagging his tail?.

At the time, I wanted to say to her, “Who’s a good girl? You are! You are a good girl!” because the way she pranced the length of the submerged log seemed so playful – at first.

At first, it looked playful, but then I realized the seagull feather was not a mere toy to this Great Blue Heron – it was a tool, a fishing lure she repeatedly dipped into the water to entice fishes up to the surface, making it easier for her to spear them with her stiletto bill..

For some birds, it is dinnertime more often than not. Searching for their next meal, or that of their offspring, is a full-time job. A few Great Blue Herons at the lake have adapted tools to make fishing much easier, and dinner more of a sure thing.

She would pluck the feather from the water’s surface, and shake loose the droplets…

…And then carefully drop the feather back down into the water…

After a few moments, she retrieved it with that stiletto bill again, shook it dry, and then dropped it into the water once more.

Transfixed, I watched her repeat this for more than ten minutes.

It looked almost ritualistic – totemic or shamanic even – to see a feathered creature brandishing a feather from a different bird in such repetitive behavior.

And then it dawned on me.

Before she first picked up the feather, she had been fishing, staring intently into the water as though tracking a fish, from the half-submerged pine trunk.

And once she picked up the feather, she continued her fishing – using the feather as bait to attract her prey up to the surface. Her prey: the fish.

How smart a bird and how alluring a lure she chose.

The internet is rife with accounts of animals using tools, such as a news piece that featured dolphins using tools to catch fish. Crows are the master tool users of the bird world, but as this experience shows, Herons are very smart birds, too.

I’ve observed herons using tools for fishing on other occasions, but there’s something magical and special about her choice of a feather lure.

After all, don’t human fishermen – especially fly casters – often fashion their lures with feathers?

Why should a Great Blue Heron choose any differently?

Ingenious Heron!

That day, I took more than 925 photographs at the lake.

The Great Blue Heron you see here is one of only three I’ve named: Juliette.

While Juliette and I were in the middle cove, her suitor Romeo was just over the ridge in the long slender cove, oblivious to the mysterious joys of fly casting with a feather.
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Romeo missed all the fun that day.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 8 – babsjeheron

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About today’s post: Today’s post is prompted by I.J.’s Bird of the Week, Jez’s Water Water Everywhere, the Lens Artists Art in the Park challenge, and last but not least Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sundays Stills: Appreciating our #Pets and #Playgrounds (this Heron acted like a friendly dog playfully carrying his favorite toy back to you, wagging his tail).

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Because of my near-blindness, I’m not able to link in my posts to the various host sites for WP challenges/tags in the way I have always done in the past, but please know that I value the sense of community here, especially among the Lens Artists, Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, Leanne Cole, BeckyB, Denzil, I.J., Restless Jo, Tofino Photography, Dan Antion, Terri Webster Schrandt, Bush Boy, Jez, Fandango, and so many more, who all encourage the entire international network of photographers and writers. Sorry that I cannot link directly at this time – this is the best I can do for now.
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Audubon One-Woman Show -babsjeheron

Audubon One-Woman Show Lobby – babsjeheron

TCAN One-Woman Show January through February 2022 Lobby Wall With TCAN Sign Reflected; TCAN Stained glass art by Carol Krentzman, framed by Jay Ball

My Great Blue Heron photographs were once again on display on the walls of the lobby and theater in a free one-woman show at the Summer Street Gallery, of The Center for Arts in Natick. The Summer Street Gallery provides an opportunity for accomplished visual artists in the region to have their work prominently displayed for TCAN’s diverse and loyal audience. If you’re in the Boston area, please stop by TCAN to see the wonderful gallery displays of artworks by many talented visual artists, as well as excellent live music performances and stage plays. The gallery is open whenever the box office is open, so please check hours here.

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Art in the Park 2023 is coming: June 11 at Shaw Park!
Watch this space.

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As always, many of my own photos were taken on the waterways of the Charles River watershed.
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Natick Center Cultural District logo

Folks, now that some areas have opened back up in a new normal, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past THREE years and they still need your love more than ever.

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The Natick Center Cultural District is situated in a friendly, classic New England town hosting a vibrant, contemporary fusion of art, culture and business. Click here and here to learn more!

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My brick & mortar presence in Massachusetts dates back to 2009 in several local venues/galleries.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick:

• January thru February 2022 – One-woman photography show

• December 2019 thru January 2020 – One-woman photography show

• May, June, July 2018 – One-woman photography show

• July 2016 – One-woman photography show

• March 2016 – One-woman photography show

• May 2015 – One-woman photography show

Natick Town Hall:

• July 2022 to January 2023 – Group exhibit

• January thru June 2022 – Group exhibit

• September thru october 2018 – One-woman photography show

Five Crows Gallery in Natick – Represented since 2013
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Audubon Sanctuary:

• July 2018 – One-woman photography show

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Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
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Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

A Patience of Herons™

© 2003-2023 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Share the love, but please respect the copyright. No reposting of any photos without permission.

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick Center Cultural District, Fishing

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