Heron

Heron: 

there's a Great blue heron that visits my neighborhood pond every so often, and sometimes I'll catch a glimpse of it in nearby creeks as I'm walking on the paths. It's always a magnificent sight, such a graceful bird, especially in flight as its large body seems at once to defy, as well as belong, completely to the air. The heron is a nice addition to the geese and ducks that populate the pond, and of course the smaller birds that skirt the shore for the abundance of insects, especially a feast in these warmer months now. Most recently there have been sightings of a more rare Green heron, rare for this pond at least as I've not sighted them before this year. Such an interesting appearing bird, hardly even looking like a heron at all until there's a reason for its neck to stretch long away from its body, a sudden grace of length and purpose. It's then for certain that I realize it's heron. 

I've recently discovered that Green herons are tool using birds, highly intelligent, dropping caught insects on top of water to attract fish to the surface for easier hunting. Unlike the geese and ducks that now seem to make this pond home year round, herons still migrate, and it amazes me to consider that my visiting birds are recently arrived from the Gulf coast or the Caribbean, all the way here to my neighborhood, passing by so many other opportunities, but making this spot their seasonal home. 

I hold their visit as a gift, a sign that here too, this exact and present moment of my home...has everything I most truly need. 

Native American lore holds that herons are a sign of good fortune, as well as patience and peacefulness, that there are opportunities here for hunting and safety, a home before it's time to migrate and escape the growing cold. Yes, it's a blessing to see these birds, a gift, and I delight in their sighting. They serve as a reminder of my own qualities that serve me so well, that I too hold a certain grace and peaceful presence, an ability to be patient in my daily affairs. Herons are my spirit guide, invoking what's already present within me to appear as needed to my life. 

indeed, they're a good fortune to be seen. 

~

Peace, Eric