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I have made my return journey to my island retreat in Cape Breton, a little early this year, and the weather has been uninspiring. It's too cold and windy to venture out of doors, camera in hand, just yet. So, today I am posting one of the photos I took from my front deck during last summer. There is a small fisherman's wharf, as you can see, which has since been reconstructed and no longer has open sides! This handsome devil found refuge while hunting a tasty treat in the shallows!
Here he is a little closer up.
Across this small harbor sits a small island, 2 km long by 500 m wide,
which is thickly forested in spruce and fir.
The far end of the island hosts a heron rookery, and they are daily visitors to the shores nearby.
I imagine there is more than one rookery around.
It's nothing to see 20 or 30 heron at one time
hunting in the shallows and mudflats during low tide.
I think the funniest moment was while gazing out across the harbor, reveling in my good fortune at being here, a small flock of herons flew in and landed in the trees. I thought, no way can those tree branches support such a large bird as that! They range from 42" - 52" tall!
It amazes me, too, that at night when I am sitting on my front porch admiring the stars and enjoying the calm, I'll hear a deep, harsh croak and realize there is a heron hunting in the dark right in front of me! They hunt day or night! I wonder if they take turns?
I'm glad to know that the numbers of Great Blue Herons are stable
and they'll be around for us to observe and enjoy for a long time.
I look forward to the warmer summer months when my neighbors return!
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