It was drizzling this morning. The wetland was still dark and I thought I wouldn’t see any birds, but the Great Blue Heron was hunting in the feeding place alone.
I was happy to see the young Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron fly in and perch on the railing. Suddenly, another Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron flew up from under the boardwalk bridge, and chased the Young Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron away towards the river. I was sad to see the chase. The bird came back and perched on the rail. I approached and saw the bird was the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron. The bird has one blackish dot on the middle, more to the right side of the forehead. It is the second time I saw the bird chase away another Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron. The bird stood on the rail for a while, and then flew up toward the Landing House. I followed the bird.
The one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron was standing under the Bald Cypress tree, near the biological experiment site, and the bird started walking along the water line toward the corner of the diving facility. Watching the way the bird walked, at once, I remembered this bird was here last summer after the drought. When other birds had gone, the bird had stayed longer until it migrated south.
As soon as I got home, I checked my diary from last summer and I found what I wrote about this bird on September 6, 2009.
“When Lennie was busy pushing the kayak to the water, I saw a young Yellow-Crowned Night Heron at the hunting territory of the mother Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. Its distinguishing white lines on the shining ebony black cheeks were so white and the lines were narrower than the other Yellow-Crowned Night Herons. Its body was slim, and the movement of the body was different from any other Yellow-Crowned Night Herons that I had seen during the summer. When walking along the edge of the bank hunting fish, the bird moved its neck elegantly, and sometimes it moved from shoulder together. Those movements of the bird reminded me of an ancient Thai dancer, and I smiled watching the bird for a while. I wondered why many of the birds were gone. A man who was bird watching said that the dryness of the lake might be the reason, and some of the birds needed to find a new feeding ground.”
During the past year, the bird lost the shine and freshness of its feathers and beak, and it is fatter. Even though the bird has lost the youthful, softness, and elegance in its body movements, it has not lost its characteristic walking style.
After taking photos of the Century Plant, I saw the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron hunting at the corner of the barrier. The Great Blue Heron flew down on the same barrier not far from the other bird. The one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron saw the Great Blue Heron. I was curious how the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron would react toward that big Great Blue Heron. I already saw the chasing by the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron twice. The bird started walking toward the Great Blue Heron. When the bird approached the Great Blue Heron, the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron did a wing flapping gesture toward the Great Blue Heron. However, the Great Blue Heron did not show any reaction toward that threat, and kept standing there. The one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron just walked pass the Great Blue Heron as if nothing had happened, and kept walking toward near the Bald Cypress tree.
This morning, I saw long pistils at the lowest branches of the Century Plant turning brown and thinner, and they were drooping. But the other layers of pistils were growing longer, and they were attracting more bees and the Blue-Throated Hummingbirds.
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