When we put in a Koi pond this is the kind of Heron that came to check it out. We live in the Desert but have the Columbia River close by.
Posted on 05/20/2012 9:51:40 AM PDT by thecodont
Downtown Oakland has no shortage of wildlife. Now it even has some of the nonhuman variety.
A colony of giant, squawking, black-crowned night herons has taken up residence in the gritty urban core of Oakland, apparently thriving amid the tattoo parlors and Afghan restaurants, Occupiers and bus exhaust.
"Oh my God, I saw one walking right down 14th Street. I'm like, 'What is that?' " said Jalima Morales, 26, who saw a few more of the striking blue birds as she was walking down Jackson Street recently. "Now I see them all the time. They're so loud. It sounds like a rain forest over here."
The herons - more than 2 feet tall and deep, steely blue - apparently relocated a few years ago from their historic nesting spot at the Lake Merritt bird sanctuary. One theory is they were displaced by the booming population of double-crested cormorants. Another theory is they've taken a liking to the vast, leafy ficus trees that abound downtown. No one but the herons knows for sure.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/19/BAH91OJQ0V.DTL#ixzz1vQhBiME6
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Urban Bird Alert!
Check out the pictures. See #7 and #9.
Can they marry those too there?
Hell...pick yourself out a cutie...they’ll probably let YOU marry one! Reminds me of the PETA episode on South Park...haha..
When we put in a Koi pond this is the kind of Heron that came to check it out. We live in the Desert but have the Columbia River close by.
That’s a Great Blue Heron. They never fail to impress me when I see them in flight.
Along with nearby Lake Merritt, there are a number of local quarry ponds and sag ponds (courtesy of the Hayward Fault) which attract these birds, so I see them now and then.
One afternoon up in Piedmont there was a Great Egret stationed next to a fountain (stocked with fish?) outside of one of the homes there. The cats didn’t know what to make of it.
They’re about to find out herons aren’t environmentally friendly. They form rookeries where they nest in colonies, and they crap acid poop that over time kills everything down below, resulting in a forest of dead trees. Then they move on to improve the next neighborhood.
Don't tell the Fish & Game people, or your Koi pond could become a bird sanctuary.
Pretty much your typical liberals.
They should go to Detroit instead, no one is there to care.
The Birds is scarier than modern gross out horror movies.
Yes ans yes.
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