In the city
June 23, 2010 (Wednesday)
The yellow-crowned night-heron is the size of a small turkey. Its body is slate gray, while the feathers of its wings and back are black edged with gray. Its head is black accentuated with white cheek patches, and its crown is dandelion yellow. Two long plumes extend back from its nape. Its dagger-like bill is black. The iris is scarlet, while its legs are yellow, turning red in breeding season.
As I was driving away from the church here on W. 17th in the Houston Heights, I saw one of those big birds standing beside a rain-filled ditch at the corner of Beall and W. 17th. I stopped at a stop sign, looked both ways and straight ahead for cars, and then my eye caught the bird. Fantastic. What a sight. I don’t believe I had ever seen one before. The great big Blue Heron is common in Rockport, and I’ve seen a lot of them, but somehow I missed seeing the yellow-crowned night heron. I sat there in the car, at the stop sign, as long as I could without hindering traffic. The bird never flinched, keeping his eye on the ditch, looking for a craw fish, I would suppose.
And then Janet, my daughter-in-law in Pearland, reported to me that she has a nest of them in one of her tall Pine trees in her back yard. She sent me pictures of the adult bird and two babies. The chicks are growing and will probably fly away in a few days.
Species of all kinds are endangered, and some have disappeared, but evidently other species adapt to the encroachment of man and his projects. I read recently that Memphis has quite a few, right in midtown, not far from Graceland. They migrate there, but their true home is the Gulf Coast.
I saw something new to me. How exciting. When you’ve had a lifetime of sights seen, something new is really a joy. And just a block from the church. In the city. In a part of town completely surrounded by busy freeways. There’s still a lot of God’s creation to see. Life is good.
