Presents

When we stopped at the hatchery after grocery shopping, this heron was playing around in the showpond. I've seen an occasional heron there, but always high in a tree top or otherwise too far away. He still wasn't all that close, but close enough for me to see how it grabbed a fish and ate it in front of me.
The people walking their dogs that arrived right after me asked me if I had gotten a good shot yet, because they were heading in the general heron direction and they were afraid it would fly away without me getting a photo. I told them I was sure I had something useful, and thanked them for being so considerate.
The heron flew away but chose my direction to fly away in, so that I could get a shot that didn't even need cropping. (I would have liked it to be a tad more focussy, but I don't want to look a gift heron in the mouth. Especially after seeing what that mouth can do. Yikes. Poor fishy.)
The predicted snow didn't come, and the predicted rain didn't happen until after we were done shopping and fish hatchery-ing.

It's been a friday full of presents :)


ps. I did fall for 1 April Fool's joke, but only because it caught me at my most vulnerable: right after waking up. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking with it! Thanks, Ron!