Now that I have the 'keywords' title out of the way for the search engines I can show you the photo.
This little guy just seemed so happy to have found a spot to bask all by himself. And amazingly he did not slide off immediately when I approached as they normally do. He/she was just too cool to pass up.
I also got some new pics of a green heron, but still no really close-up shots. They are pretty shy also and generally keep a good distance away from visitors. It does seem, however, that they are becoming more accustomed to having me around. They just keep their distance and go about feeding. 
I did see one interesting thing. Normally they stand motionless until they spot the intended prey in the water and bob quickly to capture it. This time the quick capture was not in the water but straight out in front of him. I presume he caught a dragonfly or damselfly that got a bit too close.
By the way, the bird is a good bit larger than it appears in the photo. He's not a real large bird, but it is easy to spot him across the pond if he is moving along the shoreline. I believe perhaps this is an immature bird as the the russet colored shoulders and neck (which are prominent on the mature birds) have not yet completely developed. If so, it appears we may have several green heron visitors as we have seen 2 mature birds at the same time.
PhotoHunt- Theme-Water
1 month ago
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Fun captures! Nothing like finding little critters sunbathing nude LOL!! He was perched up there well!
ReplyDeleteYep - Perched up there well all by his lonesome self, lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit. I hope to be able to post more theme entries in the future now that I found PhotoHunt. By odd coincidence I've just recently made the post I will be using for 'What Is That?' theme in a few weeks.
It's interesting to visit some of the other entries for such a wide variety of takes on the themes.
Are you sure he isn't stuck there because he is afaid to move to the other side? What would happen if he fell?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about him too much, eve. He's a 'slider'. Likely he's a red-eared slider as a matter of fact as there are several in the pond.
ReplyDeleteSliders get their name from the fact that they love to bask, but are quick to 'slide' off their basking perch back into the water at the first sign of any perceived danger. In some ponds and lakes you can see dozens of them basking on a single log, some even stacked on top of one another. It's a bit hard to sneak up on them as they evidently have good eyesight. I've had them slide off when I was still 50-60 yards away or more.
This little guy climbed on over the top and slid down into the pond as easy as could be when I moved a little closer for another photo.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.