A Disheveled Great Blue Heron and Good Night Sun

My Nature Journal Summary

My Nature Journal Photos

Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias

This Great Blue Heron stood in shallow water only a few feet out from the shore of my favorite local lake. I’m sure this bird knew I was watching him, but I stood much farther away than it appears in the pictures. Thanks to the modern engineered miracle of telephoto lenses, I was able to get finely detailed pictures of this bird from a fair distance away.

Being a responsible nature journaler requires respecting wild animals’ space. You never want to crowd an animal into changing its behavior.

First, because doing so could be dangerous. For example, Great Blue Herons stand 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) tall. Their long, sharp beaks sit at the end of sinuous, powerful necks that shoot those beaks forward at eye-blink speed and with shocking accuracy. These are not birds you want to mess with.

Second, giving animals their space in the wild is just good manners. Energy conservation is a life-or-death proposition for wild animals. Frightening an animal into changing its behavior causes it to waste valuable energy that it may be ill able to afford.

And catching an animal performing its natural behaviors is one of my favorite aspects of nature journaling. For that, you need distance, so the animal goes about its normal activities.

This Great Blue Heron either had an itch or decided to preen its feathers. First, he stretched out his wings and hunched forward. Great Blue Herons’ wings can span nearly six feet (1.8 m). This bird was a large adult so this move looked quite impressive.

Then he bent his long, flexible neck in half, and probed his chest feathers with his beak.

After several seconds, he raised his head and gave himself a good, full-body shake. Every feather flew in a different direction, and bits of down and dust launched into the air in a fine cloud.

This photo makes me smile. I think Great Blues are majestic birds. Tall, statuesque, composed of long lines and smooth curves. But caught “en dishabille”, as it were, this bird look less “majestic” and more “comically rumpled”.

Moments later, though, he settled his feathers and reverted to looking regal again.

Sunset Over The Lake

Tonight’s nature walk at the lake was quiet, peaceful, and calm.

I’m not sure where everyone else was, but we were lucky enough to have the lake trail nearly all to ourselves. Even the fishermen that normally dot the shore were absent.

The sun and sky put on a beautiful show as the earth turned away from the sun for another night. A cool breeze blew across the calm water. The swallows swooped their way towards their shelters, and the ducks tucked their heads beneath their wings and began to doze.

We stood gazing at the water and listened to the soft sounds of the trees and day shift creatures settling in for the night. Gradually, dark shapes began to flit over head as bats emerged from their roosts to begin the night shift.

This scene repeats every single night and has since these creatures evolved on earth. But the experience is as extraordinary on a random Saturday evening night as it ever was.

I’m so grateful to have witnessed it.

Christine

Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.

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