I have a few things to get done, and a few more clips to capture to flesh out a planned video, so we’re just gonna have a couple of placeholders in here, okay?
[Plowing ahead without waiting for an answer]
Cruising around the neighborhood pond the other evening, I spotted this yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea) as it left a treetop nearby and flew a bit further on, allowing a closer approach as long as it was done slowly and quietly. The behavior was a little cooperative, the light considerably less so, semi-overcast and backlit, so not only is this a pretty muted image, it’s been tweaked away from an even worse state. Nonetheless, night herons are cool, a hair (feather) larger than the green herons with a really harsh barking squawk, distinctive with that white stripe and the larger eyes. And of course that no-nonsense bill.
The next evening as I approached the house, I found Kaylee crouched in the front door, a favorite nature-watching spot of hers and Monster’s.
This was also shot with the long lens, and if you’re getting the impression that she’s slightly cross-eyed, you’re not mistaken – this is evidence of her Siamese heritage. Also perhaps faintly visible, she doesn’t like making eye-contact with me, despite the distance and the intervening camera, and so she’s looking ever-so-slightly to my left. I play a game with her sometimes, in that I notice which way she’s shifted her gaze and keep leaning into it, forcing her to keep turning her head aside subtly (she won’t look away – she has to keep her peripheral vision on me) until she finally realizes what I’m up to and abruptly shifts her gaze slightly to the other side. I’ve never determined why this is, but she bonded early on with The Girlfriend and this is how she enforces my status.