chilling

About 9 years ago, I met my first blue heron. He flew into my backyard, went down the ravine and waded in the stream that trickled through the wooded area.  People don’t believe me, but I saw this same heron twice in December of 2010 when I had lost a good friend with the initials “BH”.  This heron was very tall with a broad wingspan that made him look 6 feet tall. His wings blocked a double window at the dining room, which was at least 70 inches across. That’s a big bird! I tried to take his photo when he was wading in the stream looking for food, but when I walked softly back inside, there was nothing on my camera phone but a lot of tree trunks where he had been.

In the interim years, I have noticed them wherever I go. It’s not easy to capture them in a photo because they see you long before you see them!! They like coves, and tucked away areas of nature. I have seen them fly over a freeway and stroll alongside a road, but most of the time they are near a water source. I did capture a video of one by accident. I was filming my dogs barking at the dock and then off flew a beautiful blue heron right past the osprey’s nest next door.

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Today, I saw a heron twice. I was out eating breakfast at the Happy Harbor Restaurant while one flew across the creek a couple of times before landing where I could see him walking around in the muddy creek bed at low tide. When I got home, I walked out to the pier to check the oyster spat in cages tide off the pier and heard a noise across the creek. There he went. Another blue heron fly by with a friendly wave!! Every time I see a blue heron, I think of my friend Bill H. I know he is in heaven watching us all!