365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The Hunter
Day 267: Tanwax Lake already had a toxic blue-green algae alert posted for it by the time I purchased my kayak last August, so it went on my list of potential early-season paddles for this year. It's a fairly small lake (approximately 172 acres) and feeds Tanwax Creek at the west end. Much of the shoreline is developed, but a section of the north side is brushy and wild. That's where I found Mr. Heron doing his part to control the invasive bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) which populate so many of our western Washington water resources. Sidebar here: those water lilies in the photo (Nymphaea odorata) are also an invasive species. They can be white or pink with green or reddish-green leaves.
I admit it: I like taking pictures of Herons, common though they may be. Their ability to camouflage themselves against a background of cattails simply by standing straight and tall is uncanny. You'd think they'd stick out like a sore thumb...big grey spot surrounded by green...but I was almost on top of this fellow before I saw him. He'd seen me, though, and had that bright yellow eye firmly fixed on the invader in his territory. With the blades barely rippling the water, I paddled past him until I was occluded from his sight by a tussock of foliage. Then slowly and carefully, I tucked the paddle into the 'yak and let the wind carry the boat, a silently floating (if brightly colored) "log" as far as Mr. Heron was concerned. By then, he'd gone back to looking for lunch, and was having a high degree of success at the project. Of all the photos I got, this was my favourite. It shows Mr. Heron's supreme concentration on the task at hand: survival. Kinda puts our human complaints of lousy cell phone service and mean bosses into a whole 'nother perspective, if you think about it.
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