Lean

for One Word Sunday: lean

Reflecting purple

Although this has nothing to do with my photo of the heron, I was SO excited to find when I scheduled this post that WP has finally brought back a way to tell whether you have a post scheduled for a certain day! There’s now a small dot below each date that has a post, whether already out or scheduled. Finally!! My scheduling life has just gotten much easier. Dan, you’ll appreciate my joy because I’ve mentioned this lack to you more than once where we’re commiserating about WP issues. 🙂

Happy Tuesday to all of you!

for Life in Colour: purple

Jo’s Monday walk…diversity

It’s cooled down a bit, making an early morning walk in the Preserve much more enjoyable. Of course, “cool” is a relative term in Arizona. Let’s just say it’s been below 80F at 6 am in the morning. But where there are trees and water, even if the latter is reclaimed, there’s more coolness in the air and people and animals are out and about.

“Diversity” is the “in” term now and the Preserve’s got it as this photo of a great blue heron (GBH to Sylvia) and a great egret, both preening away, getting primped for the photographers, shows. The GBH nickname amuses me because in many of the British police procedurals I read, that stands for “Grievous Bodily Harm.” I imagine the fish in the area might go for that meaning.

Look in the background, there at the bottom of the reeds. Sneaking around behind the larger, flashier birds is a juvenile night heron.

Gamboling about looking for food is a Gambel quail. There are lots of these ground dwellers around but you’ll also see them in trees and bushes. The babies are adorable, but even when small, they can all run like crazy.

For many, birds are the main attraction here, although this guy (?) night beg to differ. I did look up how to figure out what sex a turtle is, but it’s not easy even if you can get up close and handle the turtle, which certainly isn’t happening here! Too bad it’s not a snapping turtle or I could use one of my husband’s favorite turtle lines: “Turtle soup, waiter, and make it snappy!”

At long last

After several trips to the Riparian Preserve, I’d seen a variety of birds and lots of egrets, but no herons. Then one day I glanced to my right as I passed one of the lakes and there he was, Mr. GBH. Sylvia at anotherday2paradise and I joke about Mr GBH (Great Blue Heron) as she calls hers. I told her that from my reading of British mysteries/thrillers, I think of GBH as “grievous bodily harm.” I’m sure that’s the interpretation the fish put on those initials!