The hunter

Today has been rather challenging to my equilibrium. The slightly strained muscle in my left leg is slightly more strained, which made me slightly grumpy. This morning I went to download the agenda papers for Council in ten days (thought I'd get in early). They have produced extremely large pdf files which caused my laptop to give up part way through. Even when I placed it adjacent to the router, it took forever to download all the files. Grumpy is not the word that would have applied by the time that was done! Which was my morning done.

So then I "cheated". I wanted to be out and about, and I suspected an actual run was probably not sensible. So, for the first time in months I chose a walk to replace the run (or more accurately run and walk) I usually do. Took the Pentax with the long lens and went out stalking.

Not the stalking that I heard about at the conference a week ago. I was stalking feathered creatures beside the sea. Before I left on the walk, I took a picture of another winged beastie; a newly hatched monarch butterfly on the swan plant.

(EDIT: I will now have a blipfolio for winged beasties sometime soon.)

Down the many steps to the southern end of the bay into Snells Beach and there were common brown ducks, and a gull or three. Next up were the oystercatchers. As they squawked and scattered, I noticed a heron standing still in between a couple of large rock outcrops. It then flew and landed on a nearby rock, and let me take a few pictures. It looked as if one foot is slightly deformed. Occasionally over the last 18 months I have noticed a heron seeming to limp; perhaps it was this one.

Went on around the headland towards "our beach", and spotted many more oystercatchers, and then this particular heron. I managed to get close enough without spooking it to get quite a series of photos as it hunted in the developing rock pools. Shortly before this picture it had zapped forward and nabbed something. My camera (of course) was down. So I got to a good position, and waited. And waited. And waited.

As did the heron. Much of its waiting was spent eyeing me. Eventually, it decided I was not a threat and went on with the hunt, and here it is walking to a larger pool, seen just in front of it. I watched it (camera at the ready) as it inched forward, and then clearly adopted a posture preparatory to strike. When it did, I moved the camera, didn't I; and photographed the rock shelf between me and it.

So. You'll have to accept my word that this hunter was successful.