I dug three ponds in my backyard west of Portland Oregon, 17 years ago. I stocked two of them with 7 for a dollar goldfish. I figured raccoons and frogs may frequent the pond and catch a few. But the goldfish grew to 8 inches long, and rapidly bred into hundreds, and I wouldn’t miss a few.
I had named several of the distinctly marked, larger goldfish (Goldie, Blackie, Sharkie, Jaws, and so on) and the fish would eat from my fingers.
I was overjoyed when a Great Blue Heron abruptly appeared the second year. I’d never seen such a beautifully colored large graceful bird at close range before.
However, The Heron swiftly ate Sharkie, Blackie, and all of the slower goldfish, tempering my happiness. The Heron could wolf down a fish per minute. and they often visited for over an hour.
Sometimes I wouldn’t see the backyard Heron for months. I noted when it returned to fish in my ponds. It appeared consistently around the Winter solstice; December 21. This year I saw it on December 30. The Heron is stealthy; I probably missed many visits.
This Heron operates in a pattern; first, it lands on the neighbor’s roof, as seen in the opening photo. Sometimes it landed on my own roof, so the neighbors told me. The Heron’s visits make some of neighbors chuckle, to see a feathered pterodactyl swoop in and out.
The Heron watches my backyard scene from up high on the roof, its neck extended, maybe spotting a frisky goldfish, and making sure no hoomans were around.
Herons don’t rush. Anyone trying to hold a camera on a stationary heron had better prepare for their arms to fall off.
No one’s around? Six feet of blue grey wingspan opens, and The Heron glides down from the roof, and lands onto the grass runway.
The Heron struts across the grass, and hops up onto the strawberry bed.
The Heron’s swiftly hopped down and coiled.
After the kill, the remaining goldfish are freaking out. I imagine them frantically swimming and shouting,”Sharkie!! He got Sharkie! Dive Dive!”
The Heron’s done this the same way many times. It knows the fish in that pond are too panicky to catch for awhile.
So The Heron strolls over to the other pond, where the fish are still clueless.
Once The Heron’s gotten to the other pond, I’m taking pictures from about six feet away, through the bathroom window. But I pushed my luck.
And the Solstice Heron cussed me with a loud GAACK, lightened its load with a large splash of white poop, and flapped away with powerful wing strokes. Its visit lasted 90 minutes.
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