I saw the heron again in the Back Bay Fens, which I braved despite the discovery of West Nile-infected mosquitoes in the area. I guess that's pretty good for an acknowledged hypochondriac! The heron didn't seem to mind, either, and had taken the pole position of the whole park, perched atop the submerged branch in the middle of the largest pond, right next to a motionless turtle soaking up the sun and a Canadian goose oblivious to anything but what his fellow geese were doing. Herons are so freaking majestic, even when they're just doing something stupid like cleaning themselves, so again I had no choice but to stand and be mesmerized (although I think I swatted once or twice at some nonexistent mosquitoes). It's funny but wildlife sightings tend to clump together like that, where you see the same odd creature day after day. I remember a year or two back that I kept running into a pair of redtail hawks that had chosen the Fens as their happy hunting ground, every time I went for a walk. And then one day they disappeared, as suddenly as they'd appeared. The heron is like that as well. I don't know if it's the same bird, but every once in a while I'll catch him hunting more or less the same patch of the park a few days in a row, after which I won't see hide nor feather of him for weeks or months. I guess that's how predators work, though - when we're fishing, my brother-in-law and I tend to visit the same place over and over again at a regular interval, and then move on when we feel we've caught all we can there. Funny thing, I've never thought of the heron as a fellow fisherman until now. I hope he's having better luck than I've had lately!

Enough about the birds already - let's bowl! (link courtesy of Whedonesque.com)