Last Saturday, 27 August 2022, a week after spotting the Grey Partridge and Hummingbird. I went out for a long ride on a damp and gloomy afternoon. I thought for sure I was going to get rained upon, but somehow I managed to dodge it entirely. On my way back into town I spotted a distant shape out on the river and new, instantly, that it was Heron Day!
I spot a Heron almost exactly ONCE every year. I call it Heron Day.
Saturday was Heron Day.
Great Blue Heron in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon 2022 Sketchbook.
From where I spotted it under the Gordie Howe Bridge.
These are zoomed in a bit, what I saw was much smaller, but even from that distance, the silhouette was unmistakable!
I was north of it, so it was backlit by the sun (what little was peaking through the cloud), so I raced across the river and rode south on Spadina hoping it would stay there long enough for me to find a decent spot to get a better lit picture from.
From the parking lot just north of the QE2 Power Plant.
It was still quite distant, being out in the middle of the river, but the lighting was a bit better!
Usually I see them stalking along the banks of the river..
Looked like it was having a "bad feather day"...
probably still soaked from the downpours earlier in the day...
or, y'know, from fishing underwater for food...!?
Cool
ReplyDeleteI could stand a damp and gloomy day here.
A couple of years ago a heron stood in my small backyard pond for a little while. I tired to watch discreetly, but it seemed very wary and soon took off. Looking like some sort of pterosaur.
It was GLORIOUS!!! I think we had two days of rain last week. I could do with a LOT MORE!!! It was +34°C yesterday... (93.2°F?) and most of the first week of September is supposed to be up in the 30s... WTF!?
DeleteI love herons! That must have been so exciting - one landing in your backyard!