That's not a Heron. It's a HAM!

Two days in a row I went bird-photo-hiking. I feel a need for the fresh air, the sunshine, and the exercise.  Not that I was bad at the feasting tables, I really wasn't.  But still...

So, yesterday I head off to hike at the southern end of the bay at the (deep breath!) Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge -- not the part on the Newark side, but at the Education Center in Alviso.

Oddly enough, when I arrive I find the gate to the access road to the parking lot around the Education Center is locked.  But there's an area just outside the gate where one can park in a muddy landing area and hike in along a gravel trail.  So, my hike is lengthened by about a half-mile along a winding, up-and-down trail through a restoration area. That's fine.  I'm here for the fresh air, sunshine, and exercise! 

After snapping a few photos around the gardens of the Education Center, I head off down the Mallard Slough Trail. One of the first things I notice is that the American White Pelicans that went missing from Palo Alto Baylands are all camping out on a rocky outcrop in the middle of the mudflats.  It's not that there are thousands of them, but there are a couple of dozen.

The next thing I notice is that oodles of Black-Crowned Night Herons are hunkered down in the reeds along the Mallard Slough.  I have since learned that there's a heronry that causes the trail to be closed during nesting season.  Cool!  We have a protected space just for the herons!

The next thing I notice is that quite a few Snowy Egrets are shuffling along the shores trying to scare up food.  That's how they do it.  They stand on one foot and stick the other a little forward and shake it all about in the mud, kind of like the Hokey-Pokey, till some mud dweller stirs out and gets snagged.  But they're also known to snag a fish now and then.  One gets a fish today and attracts way more attention than was bargaining for!

I also note that several Great Blue Herons are scattered around the flats and sloughs.  As I near a bend in the trail I see a sign that will cut my hike short: Trail Closed for Hunting Season.  Dang!  But right there, near the sign, is a Great Blue Heron fishing for his brunch.  I start taking pictures from a-way back so I at least have something before he spooks and flies away into the forbidden hunting zone.

But he stays and I keep taking pictures as I move closer.  And he stays as I keep taking pictures and moving closer.  I even get past him and yet he stays!  What a ham!

So, yes, I got many photos of him before leaving.  One of his photos is here, there are a couple more on Flickr.