Welcome to a wet Flock Friday!

As hinted on my personal blog, we had a heron visit our pond this week. Twice.

Here’s the heron sliding off the edge of the pond (which slopes steeply) and taking a header in the pond:

After it got out, it fluffed up most impressively:

Heron next to the pond:

It flew over to below the pond deck, and one of the large koi swam up and startled it, causing it to jump back:

Heron eat fish (and frogs and such), but I think the big koi are way too big for it to tackle. I didn’t see it catch anything; the smaller fish were wise enough to stay hidden.

Here it is flying above the pond:

The following night, a rat or similar rodent was spotted near the duck house, with the ducks warily eyeing it:

Here’s a shot of the ducks that kinda shows the delightful green iridescence of the cayuga duck:

Ducks on the ramp:

A few days later, hey look, the heron is back:

In the pond:

Heron startled by a koi again:

Heron flying to the duck house:

Like an ornament on the duck house roof:

Those big koi are bullies; here’s one chasing the ducks, while another eats their mealworm treats:

Ducks from inside house:

On to the chickens. Here’s Buffy, one of the older girls:

Camilla:

Kiwi:

Mo, starting to molt:

And some pics of the young chickens:

Did you see the YouTube video of our young chickens curiously clucking?