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Index of Subjects Now that Ian has brought up Dylan Thomas, it's worth mentioning that herons always seem to have attracted poets, for good reasons. Theodore Roethke wrote of a heron walking "with antic grace" with a beak "quicker than a human hand," and in another poem he wrote the line, "I live between the heron and the wren." Nova Scotia's own poet/naturalist Harry Thurson also has written a heron poem. This might be the place to mention that a book of Harry's selected & new poems, Animals of My Own Kind, is being published next month. It has an amazing cover, as you can see by following this link: http://www.vehiculepress.com/cgi-bin/dbman2/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&view_records=View%2BRecords&ISBN=978-155065-258-1Brian--- Original Message -----From: <iamclar@dal.ca>To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 6:54 PMSubject: Re: [NatureNS] GB Herons, socialising> Hi Brian:>> Dylan Thomas wrote of a "heron priested shore." Maybe they were> meditating/praying?>> Cheers, Ian McLaren>> Quoting Brian Bartlett <bbartlett@eastlink.ca>:>>> In July when I was staying for a week at a cottage by Johnston's River inP.E.I., one day 30 Great Blue Herons (I counted them twice) were stretchedat low tide almost from one bank of a shallow part of the river to theother -- staggered apart a little too much to be having the "old-time,taciturn" conversation Jane talks about. At the time they seemed to bewatching and waiting rather than fishing. Someone canoeing along the rivermight've seen them as some sort of guards or sentinels.>> Brian>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David&Jane Schlosberg"<dschlosb-g@ns.sympatico.ca>>> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>>> Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 2:22 PM>> Subject: RE: [NatureNS] GB Herons, socialising>>>>>>> At low tide, in the basin where the Caribou river empties out (near>>> Waterside beach), we have often seen twenty or more GB herons, standing>>> motionless as you describe, Mike. We joked about their "meetings" for>>> years. They reminded me of the old-time, taciturn Pictou countyScotsmen,>>> occasionally exchanging a terse, dry but trenchant comment.>>> Jane>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>>> [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]On Behalf Of Mike McCall>>> Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 1:37 PM>>> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>>> Subject: [NatureNS] GB Herons>>>>>>>>> I've never thought of herons as sociable birds - at least not in the>>> way Starlings>>> and Waxwings are. This morning at about 11 on a bank overlooking the>>> Guzzle>>> 11 GBHs, looking for all the world like statues, stood in their>>> classic hunched pose>>> in a line and spaced about 15' apart, almost immobile. Occasionally a>>> head would>>> move but that was all. Mind you they weren't exactly socializing but>>> to be grouped for>>> the half hour or so I watched seemed didn't seem like any Heron>>> behaviour I've>>> noticed.>>>>>> I thought this must be unusual behavior, or perhaps they were migrating>>> as a group.>>>>>> Knowledgeable comments on this sighting appreciated.>>>>>> Mike McCall>>>>>>>>>>>>
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