Paul

One day when I was walking in a field beside a creek, a place I could let my dogs off the leash when we were out for a walk, I saw, at close range, a great blue heron (ardea herodias) rise up suddenly out of the creek bed. I didn't immediately know what it was--I'd seen them only from a distance before. I actually had the feeling of my heart rising in my chest. Since that day 15-20 years ago I've felt connected to these wonderful wading birds. I've seen them on the seashore, as in St. George Island, FL (below). This is a favorite photo of the great blue heron. I actually photographed several members of a group standing close to some people surf fishing. Herons are usually solitary fishers, but will take what human fishers by the water don't use. A close relative of this heron is the great egret (ardea alba), a beautiful white wading bird. I live within a 2-hour drive of a place called Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee, which is teeming with birds, from terns to bald eagles. Below, an egret. In recent decades, Reelfoot has become known for eagle-watching. A few bald eagles were wintering at the lake in the 60s and 70s. Now, there's an abundance of nesting pairs. Ospreys, too. Plenty of fish for both raptors and waders. I live near Memphis, on the edge of the urban area, in a neighborhood with a lot of mature native trees. Plenty of deer, and a lot of birds I hear in my back yard, where the trees are dense around an intermittent creek that drains the area. It's hard to see them this time of year. But cardinals are abundant and their plumage make them easy to spot. I've been surprised 3-4 times in the 15 years I've lived here by hearing the calls of barred/hoot owls outside. I've immediately gone to sit on the back porch and listen to the back-and-for calls of one nearby and one distant owl. In fact there's a lot of bird music right here, and one of my goals is to acquire a much greater ability to identify birds by their songs and calls. Jays, Red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, sparrows, wrens, vireos, eastern bluebirds (often seen in pairs) are a few. There's a small lake in a park nearby where I ride around a half-mile track a few times in the course of a longer bicycle ride. I often see my beloved great blue herons, always solitary. And green herons make appearances there too, along with bluebirds. All of them are sources of delight to me.  There must be at least a hundred species I have no idea of, so I have the joy of learning some of them to look forward to.