This is a juvenile Great Blue Heron with an injured wing. I was about 4 feet away from this bird when I took this photo, which is absolute proof that it was injured. You can see that its wing on the far side seems injured in some way. I called the wild bird care center and they said they are a small charity and cannot pick up birds. I called the Humane Society and they said that their rules do not permit them to go into water to retrieve any bird or animal. (I asked, "not even one inch of water", and they said yes.)
Wounded herons are dangerous because they use their beak as a spear, their neck is like a spring, and they aim for the eyes. We noticed the heron because Taz saw it and ran down to it, but fortunately left it alone. It was clearly being very defensive but didn't attack Taz.
We saw an adult Great Blue Heron (with its massive wing span) slowly flying over the lake the following day (Sept 25) but not since. I have gone down to the lake several times looking for the injured bird but haven't seen it since. Freda saw it shortly after we initially saw it, but not since.
This is the best bird photo I have ever taken (because I could get so close).
Tawny and Taz swimming after fetching some water toys. Taz has a yellow Wubba and Tawny has a kong that is made out of tennis ball material, but shaped like a hot dog. Taz is chasing Tawny because he wants her toy - he's such a toy hog!
Getting close to shore, you can see that Taz has his toy-hog eyes on Tawny and wants to get the Kong from her as well.
Tawny just drops the toy without a fight (knowing that Taz will drop it in a minute or two anyway), and Taz trots off triumphantly with both toys.
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