Welcome to Backyard Science’s The Daily Bucket. Please let us know what goes on around you in a comment. Your weather, the birds at your feeder, a pretty flower, and your favorite tree, are all fine topics. Please include your general area, and any related photos. We love photos!
Herons have visited my backyard ponds and eaten my goldfish, with my eventual approval, for over ten years. I’ve taken backyard heron pictures since 2010. I noticed the herons would drop in right on Winter Solstice, among other times. My photo record helped assemble a record of heron visits.
For a critter with a 6 foot wing span, they swoop with stealth, and I’m sure I haven’t recorded 1/10th of their visits. I often find oily patches in the pond water; herons’ feathers shed protective oils when they plunged into my ponds to gobble a careless goldfish.
Here’s more pictures of a heron visiting on Winter Solstice Day.
I’d like to pretend there’s a magical connection between the Winter Solstice, the heron, and my backyard, and its energy vortex, and so on.
It’s more likely the herons are done tending nests, and food is scarce on its turf in December, so now they stop by. The herons switch from spearing fish to hunting voles at the nearby golf course during the winter, too.
I can see herons plying the sky near my house all year long, occasionally in pairs. Sometimes they sit on the neighbors’ roofs and stare at the goldfish in my ponds.
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese philosophical system utilized to orient buildings and landscapes with mystic, invisible forces. It considers cranes to bring the energy needed for a noble and peaceful life.
Thanks to the visits from these crane-like �herons, I’ve got Feng Shui to spare.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
What have you noted in your area or travels? As usual, please post your observations and general location in your comments. I’ll respond in between working on an endless list of garden chores.
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