The Green Heron

For Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Big Cedar. On our way to breakfast, I saw this bird. I did not know what kind of bird it was. I have a iBird Explorer App for my phone, and preceded to spend most of the weekend trying to decide what bird this was. I had to get a better look to see the colors, the flight pattern, and perhaps the "field markings". I am not an experienced birder, so I have a lot to learn about bird identifications.I didn't get a good look the first morning. I had this big plan, get up early in the morning, get my coffee and take a walk down to the pond to study the bird. Morning came, and I thought no, I will not go birding this morning, I will waiting until the next day. Luckily, we saw the bird again, late morning, and was able to see the feet. The third morning, late in the morning, I had my camera ready and was able to take pictures. From the pictures, I could get a better understanding of the bird, and determined it was a Green Heron!

I learned from this experience. First, I am not a very dedicated birder. Most birders spend a lot of time in the field, in often rugged conditions. I didn't even walk down to the lake, I drove by an extra time to look for him. Early morning and late afternoon are also better birding times. I am fine with the late afternoon, but not those mornings.
I will concentrate on attracking birds to my yard. That is so much easier than hiking through the woods!

I had to crop the picture to see the feet and actually see what the bird looked like!

I am going to try and start my "Life List", more on that later.