Isn't this a Great Blue Heron? Why did he show up today at

[sinkingfeeling]

the duck pond with the Canadian Geese in the middle of Illinois?

[Wingus Dingus]

1. Handsome bird! They're pretty much everywhere, as long as there's

a good fishing hole. Maybe he's going to a favorite breeding area.

[soothsayer]

2. Some really hot summers one has stalked our tiny goldfish pond!

They’re so cool, look just like pterodactyls when they’re flying at you.

[Wingus Dingus]

3. I love them--we live a couple miles away from a river and state wildlife area, and

we see them flying overhead from time to time, HUGE, with their legs trailing behind them--yep, like pterodactyls.

[Atticus]

4. We get the Great Blue Herons fairly often on our pond. You would not believe the HUGE size

fish these guys can get down! I once watched in amazement as one threw back his head and gulped down a pound and a half bass.

[Ocelot II]

5. That's definitely a *great* blue heron.

Almost in the same league as a superb owl.

And as great as this blue heron is, there's no reason he shouldn't be in Illinois; they're all over, wherever there's water and fish, or frogs.

[carpetbagger]

6. Probably came North to breed.

If I remember right, they are year round in Southern Illinois and Summer residents in the upper Midwest.

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. I love these guys!

I used to watch them on the upper reaches of Cherokee Lake back in my home health days in Tennessee. I had one patient who lived on an arm of the lake and one afternoon she and I spent a pleasant 20 minutes or so watching one about 30 feet from us.