Wrapping up a kayak paddle midsummer, I was a bit disappointed at how little I had seen – not much aside from a turtle and a pair of mallards. I was making my way back to the boat launch, navigating through a shallow marshy area littered with old tree stumps and logs, when this green heron appeared, and landed on a perch directly ahead of me!
In my experience, green herons are somewhere in the middle of the brave-to-skittish scale. I think it depends a lot on the individual and the circumstances. But this guy didn’t seem to care that I was nearby, and not only ignored me as I slowly drifted closer, but even began to preen.
You can see bits of feather fluff that came off him in one photo, and his contortions in a few others, where you start to get a sense for how long their necks truly are. He finished off with a good scratch, and then jumped to a second nearby perch where the wind caught the feathers on his head (final photo).
All in, I spent close to fifteen minutes watching and photographing him, which is a real treat when it comes to wildlife, where encounters are often measured in seconds. This was hands-down the premier heron encounter of the season, and turned my outing into a successful adventure.