Friday, March 27, 2009

Herons



This is a shot of the silo in back of my parents' barn. That's the creek in the background, and that's a whole lot of dead grass in the foreground. Now that we've discussed all that, let's move on to the next topic, which is herons, which of course has nothing to do with silos. ADD anyone?

Here's the state of the union in Mathews County as far as Chesapeake Bay Woman can tell:

1. It rained again yesterday. Rain. Again.

2. It's still cold. Cold. Still.

3. For the first time ever in the history of my eyeballs I saw four herons at once, together.

4. That's almost like saying I saw four clowns, all at once, frolicking in my back yard. Sure, it could happen, but is it likely? Yes, around here it is. Not at all.

Herons, you see, tend to be lone rangers. They are introverted, solitary creatures who just want to stand in some shallow water and fish all day long. They don't socialize, they don't flock together, they don't have BFF's, they don't go to parties, they're loners.

Well, imagine my surprise when yesterday after work I opened the back door to let a cat out and from the pine tree springs not just one, not even two, no not three but four herons. They all took off at the same time and flew off in the same direction.

I wish I knew where they went, because the time when I can photograph four herons together will be the time I can quit the paying job for good.

Disclaimer: If anyone from my paying job ever reads this, I have no intentions of quitting, and let me take this opportunity to thank you for being such a huge pain in my great place to work.

18 comments:

Annie said...

Well, how come I am the first now...maybe because I am in NY and I am awake really early! argh..4am starts...mmm...I guess the jetlag will take a while.

Love the silo...and the creek...and the herons...when you get a photo of them, eh?

Good to have my little laptop here for when I wake early. Had great flights..the 5 hours from LA to NY is much nicer than the 12 hour Brisbane to LA ...erk...

Oh, well, I guess the bubby will be awake to keep me company soon...that will be fun!

Have fun photographing the herons. I know you can do it!

White daffodils...wow.

ps Am I silly or something, what is the purpose of the wood burning stove...?? Maybe my brain didn't wake up yet!

pps Ah, HTML, now that is a good clue for the striking out bit! Thanks! I really need that book for dummies actually ..sounds good! Must go look for one!

Mental P Mama said...

Maybe the herons want to sleep in that cozy tent of your mother's. And I see the strikethrough addiction is abating a bit.

Daryl said...

Down in FL the herons hang together ... I suspect they are not serious fisher birds merely kibbitzers hanging around ... and the little babies are also groupsters .. I wonder if FL herons are just more socialized then VA herons ..

Oh I see Annie made it to NY .. hey Annie!!!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Annie, it's so nice to hear from you, glad you arrived safely. Have a great time up there. You're not that far from here if you sprout a wild hair and want to come for a visit. The wood burning furnace completely heats their house next door. Their heating bill is nothing each month.

MPM - They wouldn't fit in that tiny tent, but maybe she did something over there to attract them to her wildlife sanctuary. Alas, I put myself on strike through probation effective today, but you never know when I'll suffer a relapse.

Daryl - Interesting. I wonder if the Mathews herons are just weird, ike the rest of us residents. I've on occasion seen two flying within spitting distance of each other, but never seen four at once and most certainly not together. Strange.

Happy Friday. It's cloudy and rainy again. Again.

Cheryl Cato said...

Herons tend to be loners here too. I have a series of photos of a heron landing on an old dilapidated dock. I flew in over my shoulder & I was lucky enough to catch it landing. http://frizzfrock.blogspot.com/search?q=herons
The only time I've seen several together is when they are nesting. There is a freshwater pond in Port Aransas, TX where we bird watch & many can be viewed atop their nests there. But normally I only see them as lone hunters... watching & waiting for something to move as they stand in shallow waters of a pond or river.
Nice photo of the barn & hope you find the 4 herons... maybe in a nesting area, eh?
Lizzy

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Lizzy - I was wondering if the whole ordeal didn't have something to do with nesting but could not understand the four of them, because, well, that'd be quite the nest. I ought to do some research....I'll go take a look at your picture. Thanks.

IslandGirl said...

I have actually seen humans who tend to act like herons. Well I am sitting here at my desk and I am actually seeing the sun shine outside. So I will enjoy it while I can. IslandGirl will be on the Island this weekend to celebrate IG Mom's birthday. Looks like a rainy weekend in store though. Who cares at least I am home. Yippeee..

Annie, I am envious of you. I love NY. I can hardly wait to get back there. Our strings class from school is in NY this weekend, you may see them.
To all a great weekend and a Great Friday to you.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Island Girl, maybe there's hope for sun yet if you're seeing it there. But I believe they're calling for clouds and rain all day today. I'll be over on the island later today. Please tell your Mamma I said happy b-day. I saw her in the store recently and she kept calling me Baby Sis. I didn't have the heart to correct her until she mentioned something about you and me scoring over 1,000 points in basketball,and then I had to tell her. Everyone confuses us these days...people keep calling me Chesapeake Bay Mother. I guess maybe I have more wrinkles than I care to admit since that puts me about 23 years older than what I really am.

Anonymous said...

I understand how you feel CBW. I, on numerous occasions, has been out with my mom and people call us sisters. I haven't decided if it is just a huge compliment for her or an insult to me. I just graciously insist that it is a wonderful compliment for her. What's a girl to do!!!!

Hope the rain holds out, because we have a soccer game tonight and we already have three make-up games thanks to this marvelous weather that we have been experiencing. Gotta love it.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

NMM - Yes, I keep saying that it's a compliment for my mother, but for me not so much. We've had people think we were sisters too.

Nice.

I'm running to the court house right now to buy some Preference by L'Oreal to cover up my grays.

abb said...

I'm expecting a sighting of the four this summer. It will be a great blogfest addition!

Unknown said...

That silo looks nice,and please tell me what's in it? I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to that kind of stuff.

I hope I see some herons in VA. Which reminds me that I have to get on the stick and reserve me a B&B or something. Near the water so I can stalk those babies.

Hi CBW fellow paying job people.

foolery said...

You have the fancy kind of heron there (according to your photo a couple of weeks ago). We have Great Blues (a handful) and the white ones. Cranes? Herons? Dunno. But they've become a dime a dozen around here in recent years. Sometimes Nature DOES improve.

I tried calling our road Seven Herons Road for about a year, because of seven white herons (cranes? Dunno) who took up residence in the pastures. That was a sight. But they didn't stick around as a group, unfortunately.

So maybe your four heron sighting was a rare gift -- a sign of good things to come.

Or maybe CBMother is enticing them with Heron Treats. Dunno.

IslandGirl said...

CBW- mom told me she saw you. She also said she kept calling you baby sis... then she finally realized... NMM and CBW I too have been confused with my mom. someone told her they thought it was her playing basketball that night... i was like omg.... weight watchers here i come... love my mom though... i am learning to take it as a compliment until she starts rubbing in it as she always does...
CBW maybe i will see you in travel sometime this weekend... yeah and the clouds have taken over here too... looks like ukrops 10 k here tomorrow will be a wash out...

Meg McCormick said...

Boy do I know from silos. And grain bins. It's obscure knowledge but a girl can impress the right person with minutiae like that!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

TSA - You'll definitely see a heron in July when you're here, but we will never see four at once, together.

GJ - e-mail me if you need additional help on the lodging search. You might also want to consider staying here, but we can talk. Also, right now there's nothing in that silo except a nest (or at minimum a popular gathering place) of turkey buzzards and some of the bricks from the top that have fallen inside. I'll give you the tour in July.

Foolery - Around here the white heron-looking fowl are egrets, I THINK (don't really know for sure but am taking an uneducated guess). Our great blues do not socialize, they are very much lone rangers. I'd love to see a picture of yours. Maybe there will be a photo op of a heron in front of No Moe than a Dollar so I can finally see that too.

Island Girl - I saw your nephew this afternooon and gave him a hug. He's such a sweetie.

Meg - Maybe you can splain the whole silo concept. We have 'em around here but much like anything else I ever talk about I have no depth of knowledge about the topic at hand. Or maybe you could do a post about it at your place.

Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure I meet the qualifications to be a heron..if you add : and likes to sit on the couch and watch The Golden Girls marathons, finds entertainment in watching cats go insane over birds and squirrels on porch, and only gets off of couch to eat Rittersport chocolate bars with raisins and hazelnuts!
Love,
Baby Sis

Meg McCormick said...

Silos? Farmers put grain in 'em. Or used to. The End.

Questions?