Stella & Stanley
The Behind the Puddle neighborhood pair of Great Blue Herons
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Apparently, the Rain Brought Company
After spending so much of the last week watching the puddle get smaller, the rain finally did what I had been hoping it would do. Over the last two days, we collected a little more than an inch, and apparently that was enough to make the puddle look interesting again. Today, Stanley came wandering through… Continue reading
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The Visitors We Accidentally Love
The puddle has been so quiet this past week that I had started to wonder if our frequent visitors had already decided their season here was finished. Then today, there was one standing along the shoreline as though nothing had changed at all. There have still been plenty of the little joyful flyers in the… Continue reading
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A Little Farther Up the Puddle
Stella or Stanley stopped by today, although not in the usual place where I have gotten used to watching them. With the water continuing to shrink, our visitor was farther up the puddle, standing among the green surface and tall vegetation where there is apparently still enough of whatever a heron needs. It was good… Continue reading
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Stanley Came to Our Side
Earlier today, our Green Heron visitor stood in one of the familiar places along the puddle. It is such a small, quiet presence compared with the Great Blue Herons that even after I know where it is, I sometimes have to look twice to find it among the water, shadows and vegetation. Later, Stanley stood… Continue reading
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Enough Room for Both
Again today, the Lone Goose and one of the herons are here. I think it may be Stanley, although Stella and Stanley have proven more difficult to distinguish than the names I gave them would suggest. It doesn’t really matter which one it is for this particular story. What matters is that both the goose… Continue reading
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The Ones Who Simply Stand Beside Us
This morning I am sitting quietly on the patio watching the puddle, and there really isn’t much happening. The Lone Goose is wandering around by itself, as it so often does, and I think Stanley is standing along the edge doing what herons do. No great wildlife moment is unfolding in front of me. They… Continue reading
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I Still Need Proof
I know Great Blue Herons perch in trees. I know this because I have looked it up. I have read about it. I have watched Stella and Stanley fly into the trees around the puddle more times than I can count. I have watched them sit quietly on branches, move higher into the tree, and… Continue reading
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The High-Top Table (Follow-Up)
The negotiations between us and the geese continue. We have provided cracked corn in tins. We have accepted that whatever the birds knock from the feeders will inevitably become part of the goose buffet. There seems to be a fairly well-established understanding around here that everyone is welcome to find something to eat. Apparently, however,… Continue reading
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The Heron Was Here Before I Knew to Notice
This morning, Facebook handed me a memory from fourteen years ago, and all I could do was smile and laugh. On August 14, 2012, I apparently spent almost an hour watching a little blue heron stalk a twelve-inch bass that was stuck in the mud of the puddle. I wrote, “That little bird is more… Continue reading
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Meet Stella & Stanley
The Herons Behind the Puddle There are some neighbors you come to know because they introduce themselves. And then there are others you come to know simply because you keep showing up at the same place. Stella and Stanley belong to the second kind. They are the Great Blue Herons who have become part of… Continue reading
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