The Curious Case of Nat Heron
A long-lost manuscript of the sequel to Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? Or perhaps the latest pot-boiler noir private eye film? Nope. This is Nat Thee Heron. You know, like Megan Thee Stallion (fellow baby boomers, google her).
As you might know by now, I like to name birds I get to know, like Flora the Hummingbird (see my August post). Nat is actually a Black-Crowned Night Heron and, no, I do not know if it’s a male (Nathaniel) or female (Natalie) so Nat works either way.
I first met Nat on September 19th on the South Platte River, sitting all by himself (or herself) on the shore. It seemed completely mesmerized by the water.
Nat the Black-Crowned Hight Heron sits on the shore of the South Platte River
Close-up of Nat the Black-Crowned Night Heron appearing to be mesmerized by the movement of the river
This is one of my favorite shots of Nat as he stands in front of the flowing river in the last light of the day
Actually, it was in that torporific state that Night Herons will typically do during the day as they tend to do their activities like fishing at night (thus the “night” in Night Heron). Fortunately, Nat would occasionally break character and provide me some interesting street photography shots.
Black Crowned Night Herons migrate to Colorado in the spring and exit in late September or early October. I wasn’t sure how much longer Nat would be here when I first found it, so I checked on him/her almost every day thinking it might be my last visit. But Nat was there every day, day after day after day. And in exactly the same spot each time. I’d sometimes sit for hours until Nat moved even a muscle. But when he/she did, I was often rewarded with fluffed feathers, short flights, catching a fish, “licking its lips” (sort of, see photo), or just stifling a yawn.
But I never minded just staring at my new friend because although I have seen many night herons over the years, Nat is by far the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. Most Night Herons are a bit on the – ahem! – pudgy side and look like non-Arctic versions of penguins. Not Nat. It is tall and slender with a coat of feathers that appears to be flawlessly shiny and translucent. And one day Nat had a visitor – a fellow Black-Crowned Night Heron who was equally tall and slender in stature. Was this Nat’s partner? Sibling? No idea but it also kept a respectful distance from Nat.
Notice how tall and slender Nat the Black-Crowned Night Heron on this boulder in the river
Another Black-Crowned Night Heron appeared on the rocks near Nat one day and simply peered over the boulder
While sitting those long hours emulating Nat’s hypnotic state, I also got to see other interesting birds in the same location including a Kingfisher, Kestrel, Snowy Egret, and a Great Blue Heron over the course of the last few weeks.
A Belted Kingfisher sat on a boulder in the river near Nat
A Great Blue Heron flew by near us
This Snowy Egret made its final appearance of the year here in a pond about 50 feet away from the river and where Nat was sitting
But the most exciting sideshow happened recently when all of a sudden Nat began to pace nervously, looking sideways and up, then quickly flying into a nearby tree. I didn’t see or hear anything else at first, so I chalked it up to Nat having “a bad day”. But when I looked up to the telephone pole nearby, I discovered a bald eagle sitting on it. That alone would have made Nat a bit nervous but sitting on the pole next to the eagle were two Red-Tailed Hawks. Hawks can be bullies, even to the powerful Bald Eagle, and these two didn’t disappoint. They took turns “mobbing” the eagle until, amazingly, the eagle gave up and ceded its territory to the hawks. Below is a sequence of those events.
I was beginning to think that Nat was staying for the winter when the weather finally turned cold and wet around October 11th. And, sure enough, Nat was no longer on the river, likely flying on his or her way to Mexico for the winter. I’ll let you know next Spring if my fun new friend returns.
Last time I saw Nat this year as he flies to a different rock in the golden light of dusk