A Balancing Act - Followed By A Trip Out On A Limb

Late yesterday was a first - a Great Blue Heron who thinks he's green, a Green Heron, that is. Green Herons can often be see sitting on the ropes that tether the boats to the dock. They are not as large as other herons, and the perch there is just right to get them out over the water allowing them a really good view of fish below the surface. This Great Blue Heron must have witnessed his smaller friends before and decided to give it a shot. He landed, wings flapping, on a rope at the Inner Harbor. As he did, his weight forced the rope to begin to swing. At last view, he was trying to remain upright on the rope by flapping his wings and balancing. A best guess would say hunting for him is out of the question there. Any fish watching that spectacle from below were long gone.

Gulf Island's Davis Bayou area has an abundant raccoon population. In posts before, you may have read about the young raccoon in the persimmon tree. We were hopeful that he'd done well during Hurricane Gustav. The vigorous shaking of the persimmon tree was clear indication that he was alive and well. We watched him as he literally went 'out on a limb' to the point we feared it would break. Apparently, he's a better judge of the limb's strength than we are. He worked it over until he'd reached his chosen morsels and moved to another limb. Many persimmons remain on the tree as a number of them aren't yet ripe. This little fellow can probably be found here regularly until he pulls the last bit of fruit in the fall.