On a very unusual and welcome rainy day this summer in Texas, I stopped at the Colleyville Nature Center and found Night Herons and Green Herons thoroughly enjoying the rain and its effects on the park. Sidewalks were flooded, ponds were overrunning the grassy areas, and small fish were confused and swimming in shallow areas that had never existed before. The birds loved it!
This gorgeous immature Night Heron will soon have grey feathers and a bold black and white face. Her beautiful patterns and young graceful shape at this stage, made her my favorite of the day.
She seemed to enjoy the rain and splashed through grassy puddles hunting for fish.
On the left, she has spread her wings and is making a dash to avoid an older Night Heron nearby, who was protecting his turf. I thought she looked rather like Batman or possibly the more insecure Robin! On the right she dips into the pond to get a drink.
At this moment, the older Night Heron was more tolerant of the young one and they shared a few moments of hunting the flooded sidewalk together for dislocated fish.
The adult Night Heron was a good hunter.
Several times he caught small fish and swallowed them. On the right, however, he caught a larger Bluegill and was stumped with how to eat it. I watched him struggle for over half and hour, dropping the fish several times in the grass, once it had stopped wriggling washing it off in the pond, but he couldn't find a way to swallow it. Eventually I moved on. I never did find out if he swallowed the Bluegill or not.
I found this Green Heron on another edge of the swollen pond facing down a group of Red-eared Slider turtles who had come up along the edge perhaps hunting earthworms who surface in the rain.
Here, he spies a fish, dives in head first, and as you'll see, spears one and has his breakfast.
Our kindergarten students at school are constantly reminded to stay quiet in the hallway. A favorite strategy of the teachers is to ask the students to fill their cheeks with air as they travel out of the room as a reminder to keep their voices quiet. Echoes of "Everyone have their bubble ready?" and "Tommy, catch a bubble please!" are a common occurrence. These birds are dipping down to get a drink from the pond in a pose I've come to think of as Catching a Bubble! The shape of the water as they suck it up is so striking.
I thoroughly enjoyed my outing in the rain. Such a blessing in this dry, dry area and so obviously enjoyed by our wild friends as well.
