Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The Chesapeake Bay Flamingo

We have lots of blue herons around here. If I weren't so technically inept, I'd insert a photo of one..... RIGHT HERE: PICTURE A TALL, SCRAWNY BIRD STANDING IN A BEAUTIFUL CREEK, NECK OUTSTRETCHED READY TO CATCH A FISH.

Blue herons are not what I'd call your standard pet. You can't walk into a pet store and say, "I'd like a purebred heron. I'm not interested in any mutts or crossbreeds." Nor do you go to the local animal shelter and ask about the Adopt-a-Heron program. You don't hear people talking about their pet herons, you don't see people cooing over baby herons, PEOPLE JUST DON'T HAVE PET HERONS. Unless those people live in Mathews County.

We have a heron who visits our back doorstep regularly looking for a handout. He's huge, and if you so much as make a motion inside, like breathing or blinking, he sees it and starts running towards the back door, hoping for some scrap of chicken or fish.

I'm not sure which is more disturbing: the heron eating the chicken (which amounts to cannibirdism), or the fact that we live in a place where having a heron at your back door is not unusual.

For the sake of sanity, let's just move on to the next topic. As soon as I can think of it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cannibirdism...that's a riot. We have a blue heron that hangs out at our suburban backyard pond. He will stand for hours completely still waiting for the elusive fishy to appear. And then...boom...he snatches it and swallows it whole in about 2 seconds. I have this picture of the heron fishing, and in the background you can see a little green heron fishing too...all within a block of Little River Turnpike! K

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Hey, Kaffy, that's pretty wild. i would not necessarily expect there to be herons in suburbia, but I do know they love ponds.

Right now, I've got a POND of laundry to to manage. And as much interest in doing it as Mr. Blue Heron has in flying a kite.