Indian Pond Heron
When our house was designed with 3 water bodies, we had imagined it to be home to our mollies and few water lilies. Little did we know that very soon it would form its own eco system and sustain itself. Frogs , toads, dragonflies, water snakes and many other insects we know not as yet, moved in too. Could nature exists undisturbed at this micro level? How naïve of us to think so!! To maintain the balance, soon we had these daily visitors- Indian Pond Herons.
They are generally found near lakes, mangroves, swamps, reservoirs, rivers and even at sewer streams(unfortunately). I have seen egrets and herons roosting on wild shrubs and trees at the periphery of the lake near our house. But I guess, easy availability of food with almost no competition has made them our daily visitors. Many a times we have tried to protect our mollies from falling prey to them, but we soon realised it was a futile attempt. We feel very protective of our colorful mollies since they have been with us since more than a decade. From a small aquarium in our apartment to these open to air water reservoirs. They keep these water bodies alive and vibrant. We had to think of a better solution for their protection and hence we planted more lilies. Thick broad leaves of lilies provide good shelter to our fish and the rest we leave it to their survival skills and luck. Fortunately we now see the herons mainly feasting on tiny frogs and other insects.
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| Those light green lores and yellow eyes make a pretty sight. |
There is a famous Native American ( Hitchiti tribe) folklore of a Humming Bird and a Heron. Years ago humming birds used to feed on small fish while herons preferred big ones. One day humming bird told the heron that there weren’t enough fish in the lake to feed both of them. So they should have a race to the old dead tree on the banks of a faraway river and the winner could have all the fish. Heron agreed and they flew for 4 days, with the humming bird taking frequent stops to drink nectar from flowers on the way and heron flying undistracted. Despite humming bird being light and swift, the lanky heron won the race. The story is similar to the one in Panchatantra- the tortoise and the hare.
I had never paid much attention to this bird, until recently a power cut in afternoon forced me to move to our backyard. Where I joined a heron, already busy out there. I followed it with my camera for a closer look and shot. And it walked few steps ahead, as if leading me to a spot for better light to showcase its hunting skills. It was very funny, watching its thin brown curls swaying on its long craned neck. Almost like a ramp walk!!
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| Lovely long brown tresses of the lady on the ramp :) |
Bobbing and swaying it effortlessly picked a skink from under the layer of mulch around a tree. The stance, with its prey in its short thick beak and pride in those yellow eyes, reflected its pride. That afternoon, I spent good time experimenting with different apertures and shutter speeds with my new tele focus lens. Thanks to this wonderful muse. 😊
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| Experimenting with my muse |
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| A roadside swamp- home to so many!! |
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Pond Heron , Night heron and an Egret. |
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