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ome mornings bring a gift. Sometimes two.

One is the fog that periodically settles over Oriental’s harbor. It lends a new look to a familiar scene. Fog can actually lend a clarity, making those things in the foreground stand out.

What stood out Tuesday morning was a heron on watch at the end of the dinghy dock.

A tentative step….

On first seeing it, you hold your breath, and thru hushed murmurs and telepahty, urge the dog walking with you to stay back. (He did. Either the heron’s stillness fooled him, or there were more enticing things to sniff on the grass.)

Waterfront view.

Heron scoping out the end of the dinghy dock.

Was he preening? Did he decide the distance between us was safe? Or did the fog make it harder for him to spy some prey in the water? Whatever the reason, the heron hangs around for another minute.

Then he lifted off, and with a squawk from halfway down that long neck, he was across the harbor, closing in on the green boat he had cased just a moment before.

Posted Tuesday December 16, 2008 by Melinda Penkava