Water Birds

A Great Blue Heron in up nearly to its knees. In birds, the knees are very close to the sternum; the next joint down the leg, which most people probably think is the knee, is actually the heel.

What you can’t see here are all the dragon- and damselflies going about their business as the big bird stalks. There happened to be another Ardea herodias in this same Van Cortland Park water, and they two were not playing well together. They flew at each other several times, a commotion of pterodactyls complete with barbaric yawls, until this one beat a looping retreat into the air. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) hawking and hovering over the water from a vertical stick perch (unseen to the right). First time I’ve ever watched a waxwing hunting bugs like this.