By Steve Hemmingsen
I don’t know if it’s the same bird, but for years, at least one Great White Heron has been patrolling the environs around the McDonald’s at the River Road intersection. Between McD’s and some of the nearby fishing outfits just down the road, the pickins’ are pretty good and probably not very labor-intensive. Avian “due diligence” most likely gets the job done. If it’s the same bird, he was named Henry by the lady who operates the little stone crab store. Assuming it’s the same bird, I dubbed him McHenry.
Most birds make themselves scarce if you roll down your window, but not this guy. I suspect he has figured out that the almost imperceptible hum of an electric window amounts to a drive-thru for him; no fear at all. And he doesn’t have to round up the change for the Ronald McDonald House.
However, this year I noticed a little extra adornment as he begs for food: a green stripe on his face. Let me amend that. His or her face. Unlike some species, your car window is not a glass ceiling among this species. Experts say both genders truck out their finest feather finery in their annual search for companionship.
So, I don’t know if McHenry is in fact McHenrietta.
Canada geese are also hard to identify by gender. I know a guy up in rural Minnesota who stood in the middle of a country road and call out whatever his version of Henry was, only to find out later that Henry was a she. It was something to see that bird fly out of nowhere and land right on his shoulder for a handful of corn.
I also knew an animal-loving lady who had a fawn walking in and out of her house at will.
Perhaps a story for another day.
