neighdoctor

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By One Big Fish for a Fledgling Great Blue Heron

Jordan Dam, Haw River: How does a great blue heron go about swallowing a fish that is bigger than his own head and throat? Remembering that birds are living dinosaurs and therefore closely related to reptiles, I think the birds work at relaxing the muscles of their jaw and throat until they can work their way around the fish. You will see several pauses while this fledgling heron goes utterly still – I think that is when he is resting and allowing his muscles to stretch. That’s my take on the situation. He also occasionally dips the fish back into the water to keep it wet and maintain its slipperiness. The whole episode took more than 10 minutes … I have put up only the last part of the heron’s work. As to the trash, I wish people were more careful about the environment and took their trash out with them.

 

By Who Walked This Path?

Jordan Lake State Park: When I was a youngster (knee-high to a grasshopper my mom would have said) my dad taught me how to understand the tracks of the forest floors and river sands. So one early morning last week I was wandering the shore of the lake and came upon two tracks. The first track you will probably notice is the fresh imprint of the front foot of a raccoon. The other outline is from the shod foot of a human. The human trod the path first and the raccoon wandered through later. Sidewalks and paved roads don’t hold onto stories that can be read in this way. I enjoyed reading this natural page.