Bloggers, Meet Bert; Bert, The Bloggers

So I said the next post would be more pictures of Big Sur. So I lied.

Not LIED, really. Something else came up. About a year ago, I drove up in the driveway and saw a large, gray-ish shape in the side yard. As I got out of the car, it hopped up and flew alongside the creek, and I recognised it as a large Blue Heron.

It was a brief encounter, but a lovely one all the same. I have always had an affinity for these birds. Not least because they are beautiful, but also because they bring back very fond childhood memories of canoeing on the cold, clear waters of the Ichtucknee River in Florida, where we would often round a bend, sending a flock of four or five great birds off in lumbering, graceful flight. Our bird came back a couple of other times, but I only ever got a glimpse of him.

This year, he came back again. The picture above (the best one I've got so far) is from the first visit he made, wherein he stood around in the yard for the better part of an afternoon and into the evening. He made a couple of small flights, once a few yards to the bank of the creek, and later a few yards across the creek. I thought he might be injured or ill, but he was gone by the next morning, so I figured (hoped) he had been, as the Wifey put it, "Just hanging out, being a bird." The next evening, as I was in washing dishes, our next door neighbor approached our door; the dog jumped up and barked a hello, drawing me to the front of the house. I opened the door, and the neighbor, who had gotten as far as the foot of the steps, said "You should see this."

I went out and stood on the walk, and up on the roof, at the ridge at the front, was the big Blue Heron. I thought to call to Rachelle to bring the camera, then made to go get it myself, when he stepped off the roof and sprung into a lumbering, graceful flight, into the cut, over the yard and across the creek. I wish I'd got as picture of that. Boy, it was lovely.

So the upshot is that, since the Wife won't let me use this as an excuse to start calling this place The Heron House, but prefers me to use the previous nomenclature she dissaproved of, Soggy Bottom Navel Observatory & Proving Grounds, I have decided to name the bird Bert. Bert the Big Blue Heron. I was gonna call him Eric, but I think Bert suits him alot better.