STANDIN’ ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY: GREAT BLUE HERON ON ABACO
The occasion: a trip to Sandy Point for a lunch party at the legendary Nancy’s in honour of Sandy Walker at the end of his 5 years as manager of the Delphi Club. A pair of brown pelicans on the nearby dock were clumsily flying around, diving, perching, drying their feathers, then repeating the cycle. In a quiet moment I slipped away to watch them – and a Great Blue Heron landed quite close by me. So as well as taking photos of the pelicans, I pointed the camera at the heron from time to time. My favourite view is of it standing proudly on the edge of the dock, with the truly azure sea behind it (header and final image).
THE PERILS OF A CAMERA UPGRADE
[PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE – SKIP IF EASILY BORED BY SUCH THINGS]
I don’t have a fancy camera. I would never get the settings right before the bird had flown. Or died, even. So I had been using a Panasonic Lumix FZ45 kindly given to me by Mrs RH in a benign moment, possibly Christmas. Then I made a classic error of upgrading to an FZ72 with an alleged massive 60X zoom. Brilliant, I thought. Big mistake. My old camera has a Leica lens. Used with care and a lens extension (zeugma score!), it is / I am occasionally capable of taking pin-sharp photos. The upgrade camera’s lens turned out not to be a Leica. Almost all the shots I took were ‘soft’, the more so using the zoom. A soft photo taken with a less good lens, zoomed 60X, will never be a better photo. Just an even softer one. I wish I’d had Old Faithful with me instead. When we got home, I immediately dug out OF and sold 60X disappointment. OF is now reinstated as my BF.
The shots of this heron mostly turned out fairly well, largely because it stayed quite close to me. It flew off a couple of times, then returned to the edge of the dock. Here are a few close-up views of the heron selected from the various pics I took, showing some of the details of this fine bird. 
Then I remembered why I was meant to be at Sandy Point, and went back to Nancy’s for conch fritters and a Kalik or two well OK make that three… 
ROLLING HARBOUR MUSICAL DIGRESSION
Otis Redding recorded ‘Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay’, arguably his greatest moment, in 1967 a matter of days before he died in a plane crash. The record became the first ever posthumous US Chart #1 (#3 in UK). I’ve dug out a video compo by the excellent Rhino outfit that disinters or at least recycles gems from our musical heritage. It’s not just the voice of Otis Redding that makes this song so poignant and so good – Steve Cropper’s guitar is outstanding too.
Guitarists out there – you want a ‘Chase Chart’, don’t you?
http://www.howmusicreallyworks.com
A rare photo of Sandy (centre back row, sunnies on cap) smiling
Photo Credits: RH, er… that it…
ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO 
The bird is a Great BlueHeron. The photos are gresat. Tony
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Hi Tony. I realised the heron mix up shortly after pressing ‘publish’, and amended the post to GBH. By that time email notifications had already gone out to subscribers. Whoops. Glad you like the photos. Pelicans soon. Keith
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The heron pictured here is not a yellow-crowned night heron. It is a great blue. I was there at Sandy Point that day and observed the same bird. Margaret
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Quite right Margaret, a complete mix-up which I realised almost at once and amended the post. Too late to do anything about the email that goes out automatically when I press ‘publish’. Wasn’t it a fine bird? Hope you are both well. See you at Delphi in March? E
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Beautiful pictures, RH! Right down to the individual feathers on the heron’s neck!
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Great photos…..the music ain’t bad either, Keith!! 1967 – we must be getting old!
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That isn’t a night heron is it? Looks more like a great Blue Heron Tad Fyock
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Completely correct, Tad – a heron / post / photo mix-up that I realised as I was driving shortly after pressing the ‘post’ button, and amended accordingly on my phone (having reached my destination!) Thanks for your vigilance, and for calling in at Rolling Harbour
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Your photos are outstanding, RH. The water’s rich blue, the details of the heron, can even see the curved toes on the feet. 🙂
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Thanks Jet, you always spot interesting details in the pics I post. I too like the toes, especially the one on the bird’s ‘heel’. But the beak is my favourite! RH
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Hi I really enjoy your posts and learning about the birds that visit my home in Abaco. While I live in Florida, my heart is still home in the Bahamas.
Just wanted to take a moment and share that the photo of the Great Blue Heron you got is very nice. This bird lives in the pond at my house. Lovely
Velma
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Hi Velma, that’s kind of you to say so; and yes it is of course a Great Blue (originally mislabelled a YCNH). Luckily in Florida you have many of the birds that you enjoy on Abaco. However there are certainly quite a few lovely birds you do need to be on Abaco to see! RH
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