One more reason to walk, to walk even at night, to walk with your eyes open*, and to go out of your way to take the scenic route
Sure, now that it’s “winter,” it gets dark earlier, and it rains more,
but that is no reason to stop walking, and to stop walking with an eye
for your surroundings. In the past few weeks, I’ve found myself
walking home at night around the lake, and I’m pleased to report, it’s
worth a watch.
The other night, election night, as a matter of fact, I was returning
to Frontierland from Woody’s cafe where I had watched the returns
(across from the Parkway. The Parkway was full, and Woody’s had a big
tv and free wifi and, frankly, better food than the Parkway.) Since I
cannot walk on water, I was walking the path around the lake, when I
was startled by two rats who ran across my path toward the edge of the
lake. You might say, eww, but save that thought for what happened
next. Just as I was thinking to myself, “Rats? Were those rats? Is
there any other rodent that they could have been?” a bird swooped in,
back pedaling its wings to descend just where the rats had disappeared from view over the bank. Looking closely, I believe it was a Black-Crowned night heron.
Once home I checked my book (the National Geographic Guide to Bird:
California, which I have renewed from the library more than the
allowed number of times) to determine that yes, (a) primarily
nocturnal and (b) diet includes rodents. If that night-heron managed
to catch even one of those rats, I’m figuring it didn’t eat for the
next few days: the rats were about 1/3 the size of the bird.
Maybe this isn’t that exciting to you, but I’ve seen and noticed this
bird dozens of times. I’ve learned to identify it. But until these
past few weeks, I’ve never seen it at night, and I’ve never seen it
moving. I’ve just seen it sitting in trees or on fences in the refuge
area near lakeside park. Just sitting, fully upright, probably
sleeping. Now, finally, I’ve seen it where it actually looks like a
bird more than it looks like a scarecrow.
I didn’t get a photo of the awesome rat-hunting, black-crowned
night-heron, but here’s one I took last night of an egret fishing off
the edge of a concrete pipe.
The second bird in the background is a
black-crowned night-heron.
*I know. I know. It’s Oakland. Even though I think of my
neighborhood, and most of my routes, as pretty damn safe, we always
keep our eyes open.