Iced Out

The other day, this young Great Blue Heron landed close to me by the Valley Water.
I guess it was on the other side, but I hadn’t noticed it. Some people walking over there must have spooked it.
I had just seen something small and dark run into the plants by the side of the water and was hoping for another look. It was a bird, presumably, but that flurry of dash had something mammalian about it, too.
The pond was iced in, so fishing here wasn’t an option for this big bird.
Of course, Great Blues will eat anything they catch….

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A bit of local cold doesn’t mean the Arctic isn’t melting. This piece goes in depth into the shrinking of the Arctic ice and what it means.