Night [wild]Life

No college experience is complete without a night out on the town. Yesterday evening a bunch of us hopped on the bus and spent a few hours amidst the luminous glare of streetlights and the alien environment of the waterfront metropolis.

If you read this blog often, you'll know I'm not much of an urbanite; I prefer solitude and wilderness to the overpowering stimulous of the city. However, I am also an adventurer, and willing to embrace new experiences, even if they are not particularly my cup of tea.


After dinner, we decided to walk down to the pier, a touristy, waterfront area with a building full of shops at the end. As it was nighttime, the streets were populated by a wide diversity of people, from fishermen to hippies to hobos to couples to other groups of college kids.

Had I not been with a large group of friends, the setting would have been quite uninviting. But as it were, and perhaps because of my anthropological interests, the environment and the people we encountered were fascinating.

On the walk back from the pier, I heard someone say, "Oh look, a bird! Andrea, what is it?" As I made my way to the front of the group, I saw what they were pointing to: a Black-crowned Night Heron! Another year bird for my list.

Everyone waited patiently while I snapped pictures of the bird, and some even asked a couple questions about it, for which I did my best to answer. It was a really exciting find, and not one I would have expected to see, walking down the pier at 11 o'clock at night. But I shouldn't be surprised. It IS a night heron!

Happy birding