Yikes!!! It's a B-52

Ginger and I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas prior to moving to Colorado.  We lived on an island where our back door opened to the Intercoastal Waterway.  The place was alive with more wildlife than you can imagine.  From the airborne all the way to the denizens of the deep.  Everything from Curlew Birds and Skimmers, Harvester Ants, Coyotes and Foxes to Dolphins, Sting Rays and Jelly Fish.

One of the more common and interesting birds is the Blue Heron.  One of our neighbors decided he would try to make a pet out of one so he started catching these little fish that were in abundance.  The fish were called, locally, Piggy Perch.  He would catch one and put it in a bucket, catch another and add it to the bucket.  Once he had 8 or 10 he would set the bucket on his patio and go inside the house.  His "pet" heron would go to the bucket and snatch each and every one of those fish.  Then he would retire to the railing of the deck and wait for his next handout.

This ritual went on for weeks until my neighbor came down with the flu.  It hit him hard and he was down for a few days.  During this time the heron had no handouts.  On the second day of "fasting" this heron approached my neighbors window and started pecking at it.  He kept this up until my neighbor hauled his sick body outside and caught a few Piggy Perch for his pet.  Ha, guess you better be careful what you sign-up for.

The point of this story is to introduce you to the Blue Heron.  They are adaptive creatures and are also prevalent here in Colorado.  They fish the streams and lakes.  They also fish the ponds in peoples yards! 

Yesterday morning I was having my coffee while watching the circus in the backyard.  I saw this Blue Heron circling down and then landing on top of the pergola.  As the Heron approached Joe made a hasty retreat.  The Heron surveyed the yard and must not have found anything tempting enough to warrant a longer visit and was flying away after only a half minute or so.

Joe must have great eyesight.  These wild creatures must always be vigilant not only for prey but also predators.  For that Heron Joe would only be a nice hors d'oeuvre.

Not long after moving to Texas we noticed these white streaks down the road.  They were anywhere from 15 feet in length to 30 or 40 feet in length and always about 2-3 feet wide.  One day I approached a neighbor (not the same one who befriended the Heron) and asked him about it.  His reply was a story about him and his wife standing on their deck enjoying the sunset one evening when a Blue Heron happened to fly over their deck. --Let me interject here: As you might expect, if you happened to think about it, a large bird like this that has aquatic creatures for breakfast, lunch and dinner, might also leave a large smelly mess when it relieves itself. This brings us to the B-52 part of the story.--  That is to say, fly over them.  This heron dropped his load or dropped his bomb covering both of them in a white, sticky and very stinky substance.  This is the same substance  that makes the streaks down the roads.  The bomb of course is Heron crap and thus the name... B-52.

Nice to look at and interesting to watch.  This pond owner hopes it finds better things to do than come back to our place for any reason.