“Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” —Albert Einstein
I made my way down the muddy embankment off the biking trail by foot while friend Bill Rothenberg and daughter Madeline who were ahead of me waited at the top overlooking Lake Vasona. The purpose was to capture the roaring water run-off from the Vasona Reservoir spillway with my iPhone camera. After a winter rainstorm, the water gushes forth with a more powerful thrust than usual. What I didn’t expect was to witness a grand Grey Heron standing on a cement curb forward of the spillway. At the end of our ride, Bill and I parted company (Madeline had to leave early) as I wanted to stop in town for take-out food (Herb Green Falafel and Hummus) from Oren’s Hummus.
After placing my lunch in my trusty Sondor’s clip-on bag on the back fender rack, I rode back on the Los Gatos Creek Trail and returned to the spillway, and to my surprise the grey heron was still there, standing upon a rock in the flowing creek bed. I tried to get closer. It shifted and hopped into the creek, hunched up, its wingtips drooped down, and in a split-second, with its back facing toward me it spread its wings wide open into a full monte. I was sure it was looking for a mate. I was thinking it was so unusual an event that I turned around to see if anyone else witnessed it. It’s not that I hadn’t ever seen such an exhibition. I had observed cormorants standing with wings spread in the sun drying their feathers for the first time in Kenya while on a camera safari. I also have seen cormorants drying their wings on a rock or the dock of the lake where we live. Their external feathers are wettable and maintain an insulating layer of air next to the skin when swimming underwater. I just didn’t expect to see the posture in a great heron. In fact, I’ve seen my share of grey, white and grey herons mostly standing patiently in the reeds searching for small fish to eat whole, as this one was doing earlier. But I have never seen them spread their wings in such a seemingly provocative way. It turns out that the full wing spreading or what is referred to as “Flasher Pose” in herons is one of their maintenance behaviors.
According to janthina images photo-journal, It could be that the purpose of this pose while mostly facing the sun is to dry their wings, but also a way to keep itself cool to sway parasites and other pests from hanging out and makes them more accessible for the heron to remove during preening. Or, maybe it was just doing yoga:) After all, the truth is ancient yogis mimicked or modeled their practice after trees, wheels, dogs, and other wildlife and animals they observed in nature.
