Herons are coming out all over!

April 11, 2011

While walking with my friend today, the herons were out in force. We usually don't see more than one or two at a time... but ah... Spring is in the air and the herons are everywhere. Here is a fellow doing some fishing off the bridge (at the small bay) along the dyke trail.

Great blue herons are an amazing bird to see. What is even more amazing is that they sound like a pterodactyl. When you hear them, you feel like you got in a time machine and traveled back in time 100 million years... not that we really know what they sounded like then either! But it is the feeling you get... old, ancient, stoic, mysterious. I always feel like they are in total control over me, somehow.... "man is the dream of the heron."


Get informed about herons before you visit Steveston:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

TODAY'S PREHISTORY LESSON: "Pterodactyl" refers to any flying reptile of the order Pterosauria that lived 228 to 65 million years ago during the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period. There are over fifty genera known. Pterodacatyls are not related to dinosaurs or birds. They evolved from early reptiles, an example of Convergent Evolution. Note that the term "Pterodactyl" has been replaced by "Pterosaur" in the scientific vernacular. Information from: http://www.mahalo.com/pterodactyl-dinosaur/