I was standing in the balcony enjoying some fresh air and idly glancing at the small ornamental pond in my neighbor’s garden when I sensed rather than saw something move.

Now I am a good one for noticing movements (as I am sure most all birders are) of even the slightest kind. A leaf here, a blade of grass there, a shadow cast quickly and gone, a flash of color, they all register instantly with me. So when I looked down and saw a small brownish bundle move in the pond water, I was immediately alert, and not really surprised to find it was a bird, the Indian Pond Heron.

In a flash, I withdrew to get my camera, but the bird sensed the movement from the floor above and much to my disappointment, flew away to perch on a tree far off.

The second time around I was determined not to scare the bird, so tried to get a shot sitting on the floor and focusing through the gap in the balcony wall (hence the shade of white on one side of the picture).

On the hearing the clicks the bird listened intently and then slowly started moving away to the furthest end to hide itself. But that was okay, I had already got my shots and I knew as long as the pond had fish in it, the bird was bound to come back, hopefully with some friends in tow, for me to take more pictures. 🙂

©Shail Mohan 2017