Large Lizards & Herons

Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite animal of all time is the heron. Especially the Great Blue Heron. Great Blue Herons would arrive unannounced, in the pond just outside our house when I was child and I was always surprised & I delighted to see them and watch them hunt!

I love the way they jumped easily away as if they are floating on air and then jump back again and then jab at the water and throw their head up to juggle some squirming little animal and swallow it with hurried zest. Over and over again I would watch the heron walk quietly around the edge of our pond, stop and stand statuelike for a time (a long time), then just as I would start getting impatient, it would suddenly strike out into the water more often than not lift out a succulent morsel.

When any of us ever got too close, the heron would squawk in outrage and take flight. Only to land in a nearby tree or on the bank at the far end of the pond. Directly opposite of where you were standing. I always thought of the cries of the Great Blue Heron to be gross overreactions to wrongs that were quite minor. Repeated causes to these outbursts would be our family dog(s) or frequent trips to the vegetable garden or to the barn to feed the animals.

The funniest Great Blue I had ever seen was at Blue Spring State Park in  Deland, FL. http://www.floridastateparks.org/bluespring/ It was just standing there, drying it's wings..but up until this point in my life, I had never witnessed a bird drying it's wings...

...he was totally exposed, like a naked man in a trench coat asking me, "Would you like to buy a watch?". I was stunned and didn't know what to say.

Herons will eat almost anything! From huge fish, to snakes, to gophers, to ducks and even RABBITS like you'll see in this video:

In the weeks spent waiting for the license, permit & tags to arrive in the mail, I couldn't help but think about the relationship that exists between alligators and herons in Florida. I have read that a lot of the trees the herons nest in are there because the gator built a high bank around a permanent water hole. The herons start to come in and nest and accidentally drop the odd egg, young bird, or fumbled or regurgitated fish into the pool, thus unwittingly aiding the gator in her foraging. The gator being down there would keep off some of the raccoons and snakes that would climb any trees that had no gator under them and eat the eggs and young of herons nesting in such trees. Thanks gator!