An afternoon walk downtown last week wound up providing me the chance to get up-close and personal with a large bird of prey.
I was taking a stroll after work, and ran into my friend Kelly, who was on her way to the post office to mail a package. We both had a couple hours to kill, so we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and head for a hike. I’d been thinking of exploring Cabot Woods, sandwiched between the canal and the river in Turners Falls. It’s one of those places that’s so close to home that I tend to overlook it.
We headed to the Patch section of Turners Falls, and hundreds of Canada geese on the canal were basking in the sun. We parked, and I put the long lens on my camera to try to get some shots of them against the foliage.
We walked north along the road as I tried to shoot them from different angles.
“Look, a heron!,” Kelly beamed while I was looking through the viewfinder.
I put the camera down and scanned the canal, looking for the bird. I didn’t see it, and my attention was soon drawn to several small fish jumping out of the water on the nearby shore.
By the time I saw the heron, I was practically on top of it. There, right on the other side of the guardrail, the great blue heron stalked the shoreline for fish.
I’ve spooked herons by getting too close before, but this one wasn’t bothered by our presence in the slightest.
We walked alongside it as it crept downstream. It turned a couple times to look at us, butnever strayed from its path.
Just ahead, a break in the trees bathed the shoreline in late-afternoon sun. I sped up, hoping to get a shot of the heron as it entered the light. But, like any good fisherman, it stayed in the shade, lest its shadow spook the fish. After a couple more shots, we left the canal and headed for the trails.
A short hike led us to the natural rock dam from both sides. I’d never been below the dam before. The water was low, treating us to a view of the small waterfall, and exposing a large beach area.
Here, five dogs ran, played and swam as their owners chatted. Over by the falls, three anglers tried their luck from different spots of the dam.
After exploring the area and taking in the sights for a while, we decided it was time to head back to the real world.
As we got back to the car, the scores of geese on the canal were getting ready to leave too. They began to take off, flock by flock. As we were driving, I kept pace with one flight formation, watching them rise over the treeline as another flock took off from the water.