On a recent trek to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, the weather prediction was a slight chance of rain. Ha! Ha HA! Right….Good one!
On the drive in, I passed several cars heading out. Yippie! I thought. I’ll have the place all to myself.
Now, I must say I wasn’t hiking in this heavy thunderstorm because I don’t have a death wish but I did use my vehicle to protect me from the raging storm and get some great photos of wildlife. So while you can use the sound of rain to dampen the noises you make in the woods, if there is thunder you need to hightail it back to the safety of your vehicle or a building.
In the middle of the deluge, I decided to drive around and see which animals were using the controlled water units. These are man-made wetlands that the water level is strategically controlled to benefit certain species of waterfowl and shorebirds. I didn’t even get to these units before I spotted the heron.
Every wonder what wildlife does in a thunderstorm?
This great blue heron was sitting on a stump in the middle of Stanfield Lake. It stayed there throughout the driving rain, lightning, and massive thunder.
It even grabbed a bite to eat! Of course, the fish went down faster than my shutter!
That little sort of black smudge on the right side and about half way up is the heron. When the rain died down, the heron flew to the wood line in the distance.
And, that folks is what at least what one great blue heron does during the thunderstorm.
If you’d like to read a good book to your kids about herons checkout Henry the Impatient Heron