This is not the best quality shot of the day (my shutter speed was too slow to fully stop the movement); however, it is my favorite. I felt privileged as I was able to watch this elegant Blue Heron catch and eat supper just a few feet below me.


The Blue Herons live year-round in the Puget Sound area, and they feed on small fish in the spring and summer months and on small rodents when necessary in the winter. The adult birds are majestic in appearance and they can be four feet tall with a six foot wing span. Because they have hollow bones, they are lightweight (around five pounds for an adult) and graceful in flight. They nest in groups (called heronries) in tall trees near bodies of water. I was really excited this year, to see a new nesting site developing along my route to and from work. In the winter, it was always amazing to me to look up into the high branches of the bare trees and see the enormous outlines of dozens of blue herons. The trees are beginning to leaf out for the summer and as a result the site is mostly hidden, but if one looks carefully, one can still detect the outline of these amazing animals in the distance.