Our group of birders has been enjoying the return of Green Herons for the past few days. You know, call'm whatever you want, Green Heron, Green-backed Heron, or Little Green Heron, I like to refer to them as Geek Bird. I mean, what's up with this bird? It's green and copper, it has orange legs and feet, and its head and bill seem just a bit oversized for its body. I think the dang bird looks like some kind of alien from an early Warner Brother's cartoon or something. Green Herons are known to use bait to help them catch prey in the water, which may be an example of actual tool use for a bird – they really look like they know exactly what they're doing and I find this a little disconcerting for some reason. Most of the time they're pretty shy, but can occasionally surprise you with rather gregarious behavior. Sincerely, I do really mean “geek bird” most affectionately. They really are a spectacular looking and behaving bird.
© 2009 Mike McDowell
