Fall's Great Blue Heron

For a few days we have been wondering where the summer's bounty of heron had gone (see heron link below). This morning over by Smiley's Pond we spotted one perched in a dead hemlock as we watched two ring-billed gulls fly all about the pond before settling down behind a raft of Canada geese. On our way back to the Cottage, we drove down Giberson to one of our favorite low areas where we found this 4-foot-tall young blue heron believing that if he stood still enough, we would just pass by. Snap; in the box he went, to grace our computer slide show (click to enlarge), just before he spread his 5-foot wings and effortlessly flew to a safer perch in a nearby tree.