While sitting on the edge of the pond yesterday, we also had a lurking visitor drop in not 30 yards away. While we surmised this was a heron, we were unsure of what kind since the mostly white body did not compute. Later we got a solid ID for a black-capped night heron, which only left the mystery about why the typically nocturnal creature appeared during a bright afternoon in early Spring. He did not seem bothered by our presence at all. It stayed there standing on the rock for at least twenty minutes.
While on our extensive patrol, we also went down to the yacht club and found a hoard of canada geese seemingly foraging on the lawn and pooping in the quantities that they can. Their interest on what was happening to the left was a mystery. They ended up as pretty boring subjects.
Fishing on the ice pond
While sitting at the edge of the ice pond today, we spotted a small bird hanging around the tree branches at the north end. All of a sudden, it went out over the pond and dove into the water. While it was too far away to see what was happening, my 600mm lens picked up the small fish it had grabbed during the dive.
It spent several minutes thrashing the fish around while holding it in its beak. Research after the fact identified this as a belted kingfisher; Thom has seen it several times on his walks but it was pure luck for me to have him show his fishing technique today while I had my camera ready.