The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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May 2020
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
The bay was glassy calm that day, with fish intermittently striking the water surface from below. A juvenile heron stalked them, quietly and deliberately as they do. I knew it would make a strike at some point, lightning fast.
Now and then the heron came to a complete stop in the shallow water. That’s when the tiniest of of swells became evident, rolling lightly toward shore. The heron’s thin legs were no obstacle to the series of slight waves as they passed below the big bird — no water was actually moving by. With that glassy surface though, the heron’s reflection rippled randomly. It was mesmerizing to me but I wonder how the fish below perceived it. The bird itself can be absolutely still but it appears to move, as a rippling reflection.
Before the strike —
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I ran the video until my arms got tired of holding up the camera, and then naturally that’s when the heron made a strike. Picking up the action...
After —
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It was a small sculpin, a kind of bottom fish. Looks like a bit of seaweed came with it. After some repositioning, fish went down the hatch. Head first so the heron avoids catching sharp corners of fins and gills in its throat.
Looks like sculpins were easy to catch this day. Another strike, another sculpin.
And now local circular ripples from that disturbance superimposed over the subtler horizontal incoming rows. Until the water calmed again.
🐚
Light rain, grey sky here this morning in the Pacific Northwest. No wind.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
🦪
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