Turns out … the Egret is not an egret. He (or she) is a Great Blue Heron. And the story about them mating for life is not true. This is what happens when you tell a story like that to a Librarian. My coworker, James, made me look it up. (I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it myself. He gets the Librarian points there!) We used books first — field guides, and once the basic identification was made, websites helped.
But the important thing about the story is absolutely true: A big awesome water bird lives on the lake outside my window!
In fact, this morning I went walking by the lake, thinking I had gotten out of my system any need to bring my good camera along.
Today the Great Blue Heron was very near the path, wading in the rocky part by the sidewalk. While I watched, he caught a fish! He then walked onto shore to eat it, to the part of the shore I’d recently left.
I took pictures with my phone, but he’s merely a speck. But I thoroughly enjoyed watching him.
Another fun thing that happened at the library:
I was sitting at the reference desk next to James, this young co-worker who had me look up the Great Blue Heron. (Clearly a very intelligent guy is what I’m saying here.) A patron walked up to him and said, “I’m looking for The Beautiful and the Damned.”
I couldn’t help myself. I said, “You’ve found us!”