A Generous Gift

This Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is brought to you courtesy of another photographer, unknown to me, who saw me taking photos of sea gulls and crows at low tide in Fairhaven and mentioned the nearby heron. I was thrilled to get fairly close to one of these solitary birds, and the sunshine (yes, we're having yet another unseasonably lovely day) brought out the details of its feathers.

You can see it in a wider context here, and with its crest raised -- quite a different look! -- here. 

Seattle Audubon  offers a wealth of interesting information about the Green Heron, including that one of its characteristic behaviors, "which may help with identification," says the website, "is its tendency to fly away from a disturbance giving a squawk and defecating in a white stream behind itself."

All About Birds has an evocative description of the Green Heron's use of tools, "...one of the world's few tool-using bird species. It creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, earthworms, twigs, feathers, and other objects, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish."

I love how photographing an unfamiliar subject leads me to fascinating new information about the other inhabitants of this wonderful place!