Put the Great Blue Heron Back on her Pedestal? Who, me?

Monday Portrait: Great Blue Heron on a Pedestal Nbr 2 – babsjeheron

And when I’ve reached the end of my days, may I be found with a Great Blue Heron’s nest built within my ribcage.
With apologies to Robert Macfarlane
The Old Ways

Great Blue Heron on a Pedestal – babsjeheron

In more than a dozen years kayaking that area of the lake, I had observed a Great Blue Heron atop that tree pedestal only once – and at that time, before I could raise the camera, a pod of kayaks approached from the north, flushing the Great Blue.

It was very satisfying to finally stumble across her there that day. I observed through binocs and telephoto lens from a distance for nearly an hour as she slept and then preened and then slept some more, perched on one leg the whole time. It was a slow hour spent watching the Great Blue Heron languidly perched atop her pedestal. I was grateful to be in her presence, the two of us alone in a fine drizzle in the cove.

Later, I maneuvered the blue kayak into position and slowly nosed towards the tunnel entrance, when I noticed the other Great Blue Heron just inside. It was the mother of the fledglings that had left the nest on the island just nine days earlier. Quickly, I backpaddled a bit to get safely downwind and far enough back so I wouldn’t be seen, yet within camera range.

She strode slowly ahead, picking her way along the underwater ledge along the eastern side of the tunnel channel, then paused, erect, and stared across at something unseen. After a moment, she clambered higher onto the rocks along the wall and stood there, framed in stillness. I waited and watched from just outside the mouth of the tunnel.

She looked in my direction.

It was then that I heard it, during a lull in the muffled whoosh of car tires from the roadway twenty feet overhead, not simply the sound of the water lapping softly against the rocks.

“Arh…. arh…. arh…. arh….” with a little tremolo.

It sounded low and deep and like a frog, and I swiveled my head to see where the frog was. There had been very few frogs that summer, due to the weather and water levels; I no longer head the bullfrogs as I drifted off to sleep each night as in years past, and so was excited to hear a frog.

And then I realized that this was no frog singing there within the tunnel. It was the Heron vocalizing.

I edged in just a little closer and softly echoed back my own version of her 4-syllable call.

She repeated her refrain.

Goosebumps!

Great Blue Herons are often thought of as silent birds, but they are not. When frightened or fighting and sometimes when in flight, they call a croaking sound like “frawhnk.” During courtship, they sometimes intone a quiet call that sounds like “goo.” They sometimes greet members of their species with the “arh…” sounds.

I had heard this greeting sound only once before, about 6 years earlier while watching an immature Heron in the cove in late summer. At the time back then, I also had thought it was a frog, but it wasn’t. It was the Heron.

Crossing the tunnel at a slow glide in a kayak takes less than a minute. The Great Blue Heron took more than six that day. What a wonderful six minutes to be present and observe there in stillness.
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Folks, I have written here before that this is a politics-free space. You won’t hear me advancing any political agenda. Posts here are not opinion pieces about current events.

HOWEVER, failing to weigh in on the heartbreaking events continuing to unfold in Europe would be exceedingly tone-deaf on my part.

I wrote back in December “Tis the season for wishes of peace on earth, goodwill to all. But wait. On second thought, why should those sentiments be extended only during the holiday season? I encourage peace on earth and goodwill to all for every season of the year. May 2022 bring you peace, health, happiness, and joy to all.”

And now in February March nearly April, it seems my sentiment from only two three four months ago has fallen on deaf ears. I continue to pray that it is still not too late to turn the tides of war.

Bears repeating:

If you smile at me I will understand,
‘Cause that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner
Wooden Ships
Crosby, Stills & Nash

Cee Neuner, Debbie Smythe, and the community of Lens Artists encourage the entire international network of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Sofia is “Bokeh.” Here is my Heron bokeh:

Great Blue Heron Profile – babsjeheron

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Thanks to Cee for her CMMC: Close up or macro.
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The Great Blue Herons once again graced the gallery walls through February 26th for a one-woman all-Heron show at the Summer Street Gallery, of The Center for Arts in Natick.

Great Blue Herons at TCAN Lobby One-Woman Show January & February 2022 – babsjeheron

The Center for Arts Natick believes the arts are essential to a complete human experience and to the creation of a vibrant, healthy community. To this end, TCAN strives to present arts programs of the highest standard that are available to everyone and dedicates its resources to providing community access to diverse arts programs, reducing barriers to attendance, and building appreciation through arts education. Since 2001, the Center for Arts Natick has been housed in the circa 1875 historic Central Fire House, where 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.

Some of the images from my January February 2022 TCAN show have been placed in the online Art gallery, with more to be uploaded in coming days. You can be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
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Natick Center Cultural District logo

Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they 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 – Recent one-woman photography show through February 2022
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Natick Town Hall – Current group exhibit thru January 3 2023
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Five Crows Gallery in Natick – Represented since 2013
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Audubon Sanctuary
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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™

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

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Great Blue Heron Wishes Peace on Earth (Not Art Nbr 31)

Great Blue Heron Greetings 2021 – babsjeheron

There is not only peacefulness, there is joy. And the joy, less deniable in its evidence than the peacefulness, is the confirmation of it. I sat one summer evening and watched a great blue heron make his descent from the top of the hill into the valley. He came down at a measured deliberate pace, stately as always, like a dignitary going down a stair. And then, at a point I judged to be midway over the river, without at all varying his wingbeat he did a backward turn in the air, a loop-the-loop. It could only have been a gesture of pure exuberance, of joy — a speaking of his sense of the evening, the day’s fulfillment, his descent homeward.

Wendell Berry
The Art of the Commonplace: Agrarian Essays by Wendell Berry

Tis the season for wishes of peace on earth, goodwill to all.

But wait. On second thought, why should those sentiments be extended only during the holiday season? I encourage peace on earth and goodwill to all for every season of the year.

May 2022 bring you peace, health, happiness, and joy to all.

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Cee Neuner and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya all encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Patti is “Serene.” I wish peace, joy, health, happiness and serenity to all in the coming new year.

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Thanks to Cee for her Hunt for joy. I don’t know if this challenge is still on, but I really like the idea of searching for joy. This Heron has brought great joy.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 179: Serene .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 179: Serene .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 179: Serene .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 179: Serene .
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Natick Center Cultural District logo

Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.

.

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

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show for the month of January at TCAN.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Heron Upstages… Bogart and Hepburn?

Great Blue Heron in the cove, foraging. – babsjeheron

I heard the Heron’s distress call before I saw him.

After literally thousands of hours in the field watching the Great Blue Herons, I am susceptible to “trompe l’oeil” moments. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve mistaken a twisted tree trunk glinting in the sun for a Heron, or a rock formation that fools my eye from a distance.

So, yes, my eyes have been fooled. But my ears?

In what seemed a “trompe l’oreille” fool-the-ears experience, the frantic frawhnk, frawhnk of a Heron being flushed erupted from the movie screen. In the blink of an eye, the Heron burst from the shoreline and fled the approaching boat.

That urgent croaking distress call distracted me from the actors on the screen: Bogart and Hepburn had been upstaged by a Heron!

Heron in African Queen circa 1950

You can hear Great Blue Heron calls at Audubon and also at Cornell’s All About Birds.

If you like old Bogart movies as much as I do, The Africa Queen spins a delightful story.

Filmed live on location, the film crew boat flushed the Heron, who burst away with frantic cries. The wildlife in The African Queen is as real as it gets. Not a frame of CGI, all shot on location in Africa. Hippos, fierce crocs, monkeys, lions, and that unexpected Heron.

(Who but yours truly will review a film and only focus on the Heron??)

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Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, Nancy Merrill, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya all encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Tina is “You Choose.” Big surprise – I chose the Heron in pop culture.

Audubon Quacking Frog Trail – babsjeheron

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Thanks to Nancy Merrill for her A Photo a Week Challenge: Funny Signs . The sign post for the Quacking Frog Trail shown here tickles my funny bone. Quacking Frogs are native to Australia and so that arrow must be pointing a far ways away from here.

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Thanks to Cee for her Cee’s CMMC: Favorite Color. My favorite color for Herons is blue, although they come in many colors, including green, purple, white, and tri-color.
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Thanks to Debbie for her Six Word Saturday: Guess What I’m Watching This Evening . The title is the requisite six words long.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose.
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Natick Center Cultural District logo

Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.

.

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

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.

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show for the month of January at TCAN.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick, African Queen

Beautiful Great Blue Heron… Contortionist?

Great Blue Heron in the rain – babsjeheron.

Can you imagine how a Great Blue Heron must feel with a crick in that long and sinuous neck – time to put the chiropractor on speed dial?

Someone once remarked to me that, with the amount of time I spend out on the water with the Great Blue Herons, I must dream about them. Indeed, I do. Heron dreams are delightful.

And if I dream about the Herons, do they dream about me? Not likely. According to researchers, birds do dream – most likely about singing (and not about that avid photographer in her blue boat).
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Cee Neuner, Marsha Ingrao, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya all encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Tina is “You Choose.” I chose the elegantly contorted Great Blue Heron. Can you imagine what it would feel like to get a crick in your neck if it were that long and sinuous?

Natick Five Crows Public Art Mural – babsjeheron

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For Marsha’s and Cee’s co-hosted Photographing Public Art: This town has many installations on the brick buildings. I don’t know which artist(s) created the charming Crows shown here.

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Thanks to Cee and Marsha for their jointly hosted PPAC #26: Melbourne Mural Walk #3 . And here’s PPAC #25 from Cee: PPAC #26: Artful Mailboxes.

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Thanks to Cee for her Cee’s CMMC. This photo catches a Heron stretching its neck up-close.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 178: You Choose.
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Natick Center Cultural District logo

Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.

.

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

.
.

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show for the month of January at TCAN.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Great Blue Heron’s Saturday Fun

Great Blue Heron soaring upwards, like the mythical Phoenix – babsjeheron

Everyone who has ever “caught” a yawn from their cat or dog, please raise your hand.

Great Blue Heron yawning – babsjeheron

The yearling Great Blue Heron had been quietly perched on the top branch of the fallen willow at the end of the cove.

He pivoted round, and shifting his weight to his left leg, extended his right wing out and down. At the same time, he stretched his right leg out and down behind, in a big Heron stretch.

When he was done stretching, he yawned – just like a human would stretch and then yawn.

He opened his bill, angled his head skyward, extended his neck upwards, wiggled his head slightly from side to side and yawned.

His mouth opened wide, and wider, and then widest, before he closed it, shook his head again, and then tucked his head back down and lowered his neck.

I had never seen a Heron yawning, nor any other bird for that matter, and it was amazing and amusing to watch.

And then I caught his yawn.

Great Blue Heron yawning from a perch atop a fallen willow – babsjeheron

I wrote the above on the day I caught my first Heron yawn back in 2010. Since that day, I’ve observed several other Great Blue Herons yawning, and almost always catch their yawns.

Great Blue Heron yawning – babsjeheron

Not only do I catch their yawns real-time while observing the Herons in the field, I’ve also been known to yawn while looking at the photos of yawning Herons.

Do any of you find an urge to yawn while looking at photos of a yawn progress? If you do, please post a comment. I’d love to hear about your experiences. Do you catch yawns from your cats or dogs? Does anyone else looking at the yawning Herons here feel a yawn coming on?

Even preparing the photos in this post today has me yawning.

Although one could attribute today’s yawns to the fast-approaching midnight hour, I prefer to chalk them up to empathy for the Herons.

That’s my story theory and I’m sticking to it.

File this under Fun With Herons.

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Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya all encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Amy is “Celebrating.” The tag line for Ann-Christine’s inspiring blog is a line from poet William Blake: “To see a world in a grain of sand…” It is a celebration of the ordinary in our worlds. What can be more ordinary that a simple yawn? Wile I love spontaneous joy and adventure, I also love the freedom of routine ordinary day-to-day living. Dare I say normal life? I’m not so sure about the ‘new normal.’ Is anyone?

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Thanks to Cee for her Cee’s CMMC. These photos of yawning Herons are as close up as I could get.
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Thanks to Debbie for her Six Word Saturday: No Better Way to Tour Porto Sidecar . The title is the requisite six words long.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 177: Celebrating .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 177: Celebrating .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 177: Celebrating .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 177: Celebrating.
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.
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Natick Center Cultural District

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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. Learn more!

.
.

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show for the month of January at TCAN.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Heron on the Charles River

Great Blue Heron poised in the Charles River – babsjeheron

The Charles River is a land of contrasts.

Babsje

Alligator on the shore of the Charles River – babsjeheron

The Great Blue Heron shown at the top of this post stands in a small cove just around the corner on the Charles River from a property teeming with whimsical statuary.

There’s an Alligator crouching on the shore.

An Iguana perches on an overhanging branch.

A giant Galapagos Tortoise lumbers ploddingly ahead.

A family of three White Tail Deer munch noiselessly on tender greens.

Bear Along the Charles River in Autumn – babsjeheron

An inquisitive Black Bear rears up on hind legs with her cub underfoot.

The whimsical menagerie greets boaters on a point jutting into the Charles River in Newton, Massachusetts.

And no, the Great Blue Heron shown in the top photo isn’t one of the fanciful life-like statues – it’s the real deal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day they added a Heron statue to the menagerie.

A large Bison stands guard next to a copper tub at the point of land.

The sign saying WATER ENJOY” is a welcome sight for thirsty kayakers and canoeists on hot summer days: the owners fill the copper tub with water bottles.

Charles River tableau as seen from a kayak – babsjeheron

View Through a Tunnel on the Charles River in Autumn – babsjeheron

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This post is prompted by Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, Dawn Miller, Jez Braithwaite, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Tina is “Interesting Architecture.” One of the libraries has very interesting architecture. In 1873, the Morse Institute Library was dedicated in a Gothic-style red brick building, made possible by the bequest of Mary Ann Morse.

Morse Institute Library Exterior – babsjeheron

By the 1980s the town’s needs had outgrown the existing building and groundbreaking on a new library building took place in 1995. The new library opened in 1997 and kept the 1873 red brick building as the southwest cornerstone of the new library. The above photo shows the original red brick library at left and abutting it at right you can see a short flight of steps leading to entrance doors.

From the inside, you can see the full brick shell of the 1873 building, along with the beautiful stained glass windows.

Notice the large windows at the center of the second floor in the above exterior photo. The photo below shows those same windows when viewed from inside the second floor of the library.

Morse Institute Library Interior Stained Glass Windows – babsjeheron

Similarly, here is the second floor interior view of the Henri Prunaret History Room. As you can see, the windows and brick and stone work are the same as shown on the exterior photo.

Morse Institute Library Interior Henri Prunaret History Room – babsjeheron

The new library meets the old library using this walkway from the Reference Desk area into the History Room:

Morse Institute Library Interior Walkway to Henri Prunaret History Room – babsjeheron

Morse Institute Library Interior Corner – babsjeheron

The integration of the new building with the original building preserved the 1873 walls, windows, rooms and roof in an ingenious way.

This photo taken from inside the top floor of the new library shows one top corner of the original brick building and the actual mansard roof, with struts securing the old building to the new.

Morse Institute Library Interior View – babsjeheron

Looking up from the lower level of the new library, you can see the original 1873 wall’s brick and stone facade with joining struts at top.

You can learn more about the history of this interesting library CLICK HERE.
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Thanks to Cee for her CMMC: The Color Blue. Great Blue Herons appear to be blue but the blue color is an illusion created by refraction.
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Thanks to Debbie for her Six Word Saturday: They Are Coming to Get You. The title is the requisite six words long.
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Thanks to Jez for the Water Water Everywhere Challenge. Quite a bit of water today.
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Thanks to Dawn for her Festival of Leaves . Autumn leaves are present in several photos today.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture.
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.
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Natick Artists Sidewalk Chalk

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Please join Natick Artists TODAY on November 13 on Zoom from 2-5 pm ET for a Virtual Exhibition & Sale. The Natick Artists deferred their scheduled Open Studios until Spring 2022 due to COVID, but didn’t want to wait to see you again. They’re all looking forward to sharing artwork with you in this safe virtual environment. Zoom link: November 13 2-5pm ET
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85739018397?pwd=MDlGbXpPMitTZklERE1oR1ozMmRmZz09

You can learn more about the November 13, 2021, Natick Artists Virtual Exhibition CLICK HERE.

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Great Egret for Not-So-Wordless Wednesday

Egret lunging from the shore to catch a fish – babsjeheron

The fisherman and the Egret stared at each other. Clearly, the fisherman was the more surprised of the two.

He didn’t miss a beat, though, following through on the cast he had just played out with a flick of his wrist.

Soundlessly, he reeled in a small fish, and as though guided by instinct, he unhooked it and tossed it back…

Back Into the waters directly in front of the Egret, who lunged after it in an explosion of white, wings-akimbo, feathers flying.

Egret flips fish inside her bill – babsjeheron.

Nature presents us with scenes of exquisite beauty.

When it comes to wildlife photography, so many of those experiences are never caught with a camera. Wildlife is shy and fast and elusive and unpredictable. Weather conditions don’t always cooperate. Digital film cards fill up at inopportune moments. Lens caps left on the camera inadvertently cause missed shots. Sunlight can be too bright or too dim. Insensitive gawkers scare off the wild creatures. I could go on and on.

On this day, however, the universe conspired with the Egret and fisherman and served up a tasty morsel for the Egret, and an unexpected photo opportunity for me there along the shoreline.

Egret submerges her head to land a fish – babsjeheron

It was thrilling to watch these two interacting, fishing man and fishing bird. How I wanted to be fishing with them, fish fishing instead of camera fishing. How I wanted a fish, myself, to toss to the Egret like the fisherman, who was practicing catch and release. How I wanted to know the feeling of the bird coming to me for a fish, the way Border Collie Rogue gambols up for a Milk Bone at the boathouse.

Just once.

But that would be wrong.

Which brings me back around to catch and release fishing. I’m sure that for as long as man has been trying to catch fish throughout the millennia, opportunistic birds have been trying to get man’s leftovers. Is there ever a fishing trawler that pulls into port without a flock of birds trailing along after it’s stern? How about the gulls circling and lurking above the sea walls up and down our coasts where anglers try their luck? It’s not the fishermen’s fault – the birds are very smart.

Egret fishing intently – babsjeheron.

There is a socialization between man and wild bird that has been taking place for eons, whether we’re aware of it or not, whether we like it or not. Speaking for myself, I am a little disheartened when I hear photographers talk about how tame the birds are in such-and-such a place and encourage others to come on down to see the tame birds up close.

There in the cove that day, I felt torn. While the photographer that I am was thrilled by the photo op served up, I felt concerned to see this magnificent Egret so very tame. It wasn’t the fisherman’s fault – I’m sure that Egret has been panhandling fish for a long time. The Egret has been lucky so far, but the risk of being snagged by a wayward fishhook from a poorly-cast line is real. The risk of being entangled in fishing line is very real, as I blogged in the story of a Great Blue Heron ensnared by fishing line: Happy Ending to Beautiful Great Blue Heron Rescue .

And so I love this gorgeous, graceful Egret as an artist loves all of her models, but I can’t help thinking: wild birds needs to be just that to survive safely.

Wild.

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This post is prompted by Cee Neuner, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Tina is “Interesting Architecture.” One of the boathouses has interesting architecture. During the late 19th century, canoeing was very popular in the area. The boathouse building shown was previously a police station and jail! Amazing architecture for a 19th century jail.

Charles River Boathouse – babsjeheron

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Thanks to Cee for her Hunt for joy. I don’t know if this challenge is still on, but I really like the idea of searching for joy. The Herons and Egrets bring joy.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture.
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.
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Natick Artists Sidewalk Chalk

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Please join Natick Artists on November 13 on Zoom from 2-5 pm ET for a Virtual Exhibition & Sale. The Natick Artists deferred their scheduled Open Studios until Spring 2022 due to COVID, but didn’t want to wait to see you again. They’re all looking forward to sharing artwork with you in this safe virtual environment. Zoom link: November 13 2-5pm ET
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85739018397?pwd=MDlGbXpPMitTZklERE1oR1ozMmRmZz09

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
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Natick Town Hall
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Five Crows Gallery in Natick
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Audubon Sanctuary
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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™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Great Blue Heron in Warmer Days

Great Blue Heron in Warmer Days – babsjeheron

And when I’ve reached the end of my days, may I be found with a Great Blue Heron nest built within my ribcage.
With apologies to Robert Macfarlane
The Old Ways

Great Blue Heron has caught a small Pickerel after stalking it like a cat – babsjeheron.

(Frequent visitors to my blog know that some posts are Art-with-a-capital-A, some are more scientific, and some are my personal photojournalist observations from the field. This post is not capital-A-Art, although the Great Blue Herons, themselves, are decidedly works of art in and of themselves as far as I am concerned.)

Great Blue Heron about to strike – babsjeheron.

Have you ever watched a cat stalking something? You might have noticed the cat “triangulating” on the prey if the prey is still. Because cats can’t see motionless critters well (or perhaps at all), the cat will move in order to pinpoint the precise location where it needs to pounce.

And just before the cat pounces, you may notice that often the cat hunkers down, raising its butt while lowering its head, then shifting its weight on rear paws from side to side.

Great Blue Herons sometimes do that same maneuver before striking. As you can see in the animation here, the Heron’s head is very nearly motionless, while its neck and body sway from side to side as it fixes on the location of the Pickerel it is stalking. The Heron then lowered its head, raised its tail, and struck with lightning speed.

It was a lucky strike because, as the photo shows, the Heron just barely caught the Pickerel – the fish was easily a foot long, but the Heron only was able to grasp the end of the Pickerel’s snout. The Heron easily swallowed the Pickerel in one gulp. Happy Great Blue Heron!

I can remember the first time I observed a Heron stalking a fish using that cat-like sequence as though it was only yesterday. Watching through the binoculars, I saw the Heron sway from side to side, raise its butt, lower its head and then strike below the surface, and I broke into a big smile when I realized it was hunting just like my cat. Who knew?!

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This post is prompted by Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, Jez Braithwaite, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers. Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Tina is “Interesting Architecture.” While photographing Herons in Boston one day, I captured the Museum of Science. From the vantage point of my kayak, the building looks very interesting, as though it has airplane propellers on the roof and the pilot is just waiting to hear the control tower declare “Museum, you are cleared for take off.”

Museum of Science, you are cleared for takeoff – babsjeheron

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Thanks to Cee for her Hunt for joy. I don’t know if this challenge is still on, but I really like the idea of searching for joy. The Herons bring joy.
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Thanks to Debbie for her Six Word Saturday. The title is the requisite six words long.
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Thanks to Jez for the Water Water Everywhere Challenge. Quite a bit of water today.
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 173: Interesting Architecture .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.
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Natick Center Cultural District

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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. Learn more!

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Great Blue Heron Uses Tools, Picks up Litter, What a Day

Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 8 – babsjeheron

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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 5 – babsjeheron

When last we saw the smart Great Blue Heron using a tool, it was the Gull feather you see here and above.
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A short eight minutes after she abandoned the Gull feather as a fishing lure, she decided to try out a different form of bait…
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She marched a bit further down the half-submerged pine and plucked a twig from the tangle of sticks along the log.
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Great Blue Heron Using Stick as Tool Nbr1 – babsjeheron

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She wiggled the slender twig around beneath the surface of the water…
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And around again….

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Great Blue Heron Using Stick as Tool Nbr2 – babsjeheron

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Probing with her twig to stir any fishes below…
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…Her movements were subtle…
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Great Blue Heron Using Stick as Tool Nbr3 – babsjeheron

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…Almost mimicking the way a Heron stands in stillness and gently prods the water with a foot…
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Transfixed, I watched her repeat this for more than ten minutes.
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Great Blue Heron Using Stick as Tool Nbr4 – babsjeheron

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This was not the first time I had witnessed a Great Blue Heron using a tool.
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You can read the story of another Great Blue Heron fishing with a stick CLICK HERE.
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Great Blue Heron Finished Using Stick as Tool – babsjeheron

You can read the story of this same Great Blue Heron fishing with a feather CLICK HERE.
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That day, I took more than 925 photographs at the lake.
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That day began in the long slender cove, where this same Great Blue Heron was plying the shore.
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Great Blue Heron holding a huge plastic bag she pulled from the muck along the shore – babsjeheron

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Her fishing technique that day was unlike anything I’d witnessed before: she poked and prodded the muck along the south end of the cove for at least half an hour.
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Her trophy? This huge plastic bag. At one time, it contained something large, larger than a king-sized pillow to be sure.
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Young Great Blue Heron male on amorous approach – babsjeheron

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On this day the young male Heron had been intently watching the female from yards away down the cove, while the female poked the mud with her long beak, tugging persistently at something.
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Great Blue Herons with Litter – babsjeheron

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Just as the young male made his move, strutting up the cove towards the female in his courtship posture, her beak lurched free from the mud, with a huge plastic bag stuck on her lower bill.
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Great Blue Carrying Huge Plastic Bag – babsjeheron

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I’m not sure if he was more interested in pursuing her as a mate or in wresting the huge plastic bag from her.
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Whichever was his intention, she was having none of it. She pivoted on her heels and flew westward out of the cove with the bag trailing from her beak, leaving the young male behind.

Young Great Blue Heron male looks on dejectedly after the female fled – babsjeheron

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I wish I could say that the female was carrying the bag voluntarily, but I cannot: the plastic was hooked securely on her lower bill.

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I quickly paddled out of the cove, hoping to follow her and ensure that she freed herself from the bag. Under the shade of tall pines, she shook and shook her head from side-to-side the way a dog shakes a rag.
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Great Blue Heron’s Trash Bag – babsjeheron

To no avail.

More than three weeks later, I found the plastic trash bag floating and retrieved it. Here it is on the ground next to my old kayak for scale. The boat is 15 feet long. As you can see, that plastic bag was nearly half the length of the boat.

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This post is prompted by Cee, Jez, Becky, and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers.

The focus for this week’s Lens Artist challenge hosted by Amy is “A Day of My Week.” All three of the little stories in my post today took place on the same day, with the same Great Blue Heron. On that July 25, I took more than 925 Heron photos from my kayak on the lake.

• The day started with the female Heron pulling a ginormous plastic bag from the mud near the shore and her encounter with the amorous young male.
• As if that wasn’t exciting enough to watch, the female Great Blue then picked up a Gull’s feather and used it as a fishing lure – it was amazing to see a bird use the feather of another bird as a tool.
• And then, the same Heron picked up a slender twig and used that in her attempts to lure fishes to the surface.

I would have been thrilled to experience any one of the three incidents I witnessed that day – but to experience all three of them in a single day? Mindboggling.

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Thanks to Cee for her Hunt for joy. I don’t know if this challenge is still on, but I really like the idea of searching for joy. The Herons bring joy.
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Thanks to Jez for the Water Water Everywhere Challenge. Quite a bit of water today.
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Thanks to Becky for her Past Squares challenge. I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz lately about Becky’s Squares challenge, and haven’t joined the fun before…So I have no ‘past’ squares to contribute but I hope the squares in today’s post are enough for starters.

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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 172: A Day of My Week .
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and a half and they need your love more than ever.
.

Natick Center Cultural District

.

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

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

Please watch this space for news of my upcoming Winter 2022 gallery show.

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
.
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick

Beautiful Great Blue Heron Gets Lucky

Great Blue Heron Fledgling Sticks The Landing – babsjeheron

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Great Blue Heron With Pickerel Weed – babsjeheron

Boat traffic was ominously heavy that morning at the lake.
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Old Blue the kayak and I had put in later than usual, and it was dismaying to see motor boat after motor boat cruising down the channel towards us.
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Great Blue Heron Territorial Display – babsjeheron

Their wakes were tricky to navigate in a 15 foot kayak.
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Everyone seemed in a hurry to reach their favorite spots.
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The water churned from boat wakes crashing at me from different directions simultaneously.
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I was feeling the way the Great Blue in this image looked.
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Young Osprey perched amid pinecones – babsjeheron

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One boat rushed by to my left, very nearly swamping me in Old Blue.
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So much for seamanship and courtesy.
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An Osprey watched us from high above.
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Great Blue Heron Camouflaged – babsjeheron

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The adults in the speeding boat were all facing forward, chatting away.
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But the young boy sitting in the back was facing aft.
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Great Blue Heron preening Columbus Day weekend – babsjeheron

Facing aft and silently pointing as he caught my eye.
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And then it dawned on me.
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The boy was directing my attention to the beautiful Great Blue Heron perched on the branch just above the water to my right. How lucky I was.
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Great Blue Heron lands a large fish – babsjeheron

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Thanks to the young boy’s keen eye, I was able to take many Great Blue Heron photographs that day.
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Until he pointed out that Great Blue, I was discouraged by how crowded things were on the water.
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Great Blue Heron carrying large Pike – babsjeheron

And I had considered turning the kayak around for home.
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Instead of leaving, I was able to watch this Great Blue catch the ginormous Pike.
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How lucky I was.
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Pteradactyl catching prize fish – babsjeheron

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You can read the story of Great Blue Heron’s Jaw-Dropping Day with a Fisherman CLICK HERE.
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How lucky she was.
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How about a round of applause for this plucky Heron for swallowing the huge Pike? – babsjeheron

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You can read the story of the Epic Great Blue Heron Swallows Ginormous Fish CLICK HERE.
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How lucky she was..

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Van fully engulfed in flames on road next to boathouse on Columbus Day weekend – babsjeheron

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This was also the day the boathouse caught fire, and a few hours later, an heroic boater saved the life of the Great Blue Heron shown in today’s photos.
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You can read the story of the Happy Ending to Beautiful Great Blue Heron Rescue CLICK HERE.
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Thanks to him, this Heron was lucky to be alive!
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How very lucky she was!

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This post is prompted by Cee Neuner, Dawn Miller and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers.

The focus for this week’s LAPC is The Ordinary. This week, the Lens Artists have invited blogger I.J. Khanewala here as guest host. Welcome I.J.!

The day shown in my post, Columbus Day – now Indigenous Peoples’ Day – started out as an ordinary holiday day at the lake. The second Monday in October is the traditional closing day for the boathouse for the year.

Please click the links below to see the beautiful offerings from these wonderful photographers.
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Thanks to Cee for her Hunt for joy. I don’t know if this challenge is still on, but I really like the idea of searching for joy. The Herons bring joy.
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Thanks to Dawn for her Festival of Leaves . Autumn leaves are subtly reflected in the Preening Heron photo.
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From I.J. Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 169: The Ordinary .
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 169: The Ordinary .
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 169: The Ordinary .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 169: The Ordinary .

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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 169: The Ordinary .

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.

Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and they need your love.

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

TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
.
Natick Town Hall
.
Five Crows Gallery in Natick
,
Audubon Sanctuary
.

Be a fly on the wall! You can CLICK HERE to see the gallery walls with Herons .
.

.

Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™

May the Muse be with you.™

The Tao of Feathers™

© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)

Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick