Scratchpad: Graceful great blue herons
Oct. 12—There were five along the Astoria Riverwalk last week. In the early evening hours, silent and stoic, two perched on some pilings near Pier 11, watching as a group of cormorants aired out water from beneath their wings.
Great blue herons, silhouettes of the calm shore, are a common year-round sight along the banks of the Columbia. In October, many shorebirds have begun to fly south for the winter. Brown pelicans have started to disappear from the coastal beaches.
But near the Lightship Columbia, two more herons jumped between rocks, showing off their six-foot wingspans as they searched for small fish. Like a watercolor painting on a gray background, the last heron of the night walked to the edge of a restaurant rooftop, surrounded by a flock of gulls.
The wind began to pick up, but the bird stayed perfectly still. The great blue herons, it seems, have settled in for the season, gracefully wading through the wetlands, marshes and ponds — and along the river's edge.
