Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A New Lake Riley Heron Rises!


He's ba-a-a-a-ck--well, at any rate there is a new heron in town!

It has been a few months since I last observed any "heron activity," at the small man-made lake at Cobbs Hill, but when, this afternoon while entering the on ramp to the expressway going East, I noticed some distinctive movement in the cattails, I thought he (she?) may have returned. After returning home a half hour later, I grabbed my camera and headed back to the park, hoping that the heron had not left--and if not for some good fortune and lucky spotting I may have headed home empty handed and with the impression that I was just imaging things.

As is apparent by the image below, the new hero was attempting to avoid detection, and did so in interesting fashion, by blending in with the reeds. His long neck (especially when looking skyward) easily blended into the background.


Can you see me now?

Once he steps from the reeds and into the water (and I walk from my car for a closer look) the heron comes into view. This one is a younger bird than the one I saw earlier this summer, as evidenced by his slender build and darker coloring. A Canadian goose was kind enough to step into a photo to offer some scale.


Oh, there you are!

I ended up spending about 20 minutes at the park and snapping quite a few pictures, many of which (as usual) were not that compelling. I was, however, happy to capture the heron lolling about the "lake" occasionally interacting ignoring the other residents before flying to the other end of the pond.


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