Where the Malden River emerges from under Malden’s downtown, birds have found a small oasis hidden behind a wall of trees at the edges of surrounding stores, a function hall, and other commercial properties. Few people come up here. But when I’d hung out with a friend just downstream, near the Trash Trap, we’d noticed that herons favored a tree branch poking out of the shallows up there, and figured we’d investigate.
The Malden River is said to be just over 2 miles long and I’m aiming to draw the whole thing, piece by piece.
On this return visit, I scared off three herons and several cormorants as I carefully crossed a concrete bridge over one inlet, into a small stand of trees, and down the dirt bank to the river.
My sense is herons have favorite spots, so I figured herons would return if I kept quiet and still and waited a bit. I unfolded my lawn chair at the river’s edge, somewhat hidden under the shade of the trees, and trained my camera on that tree branch and tried to sketch it too. My eyesight is declining, and I was far from the tree branch, hampering my drawing. Something repeatedly rippled the water near me. Fish? Mallards paddled about the edges of the river. I kept getting my hopes up when I spotted reflections of birds flying overhead, only to look up to see gulls.
After about half an hour, a bird glided upstream and alighted on that tree branch. A stripe ran across its head to its red eye–one of the distinctive markings of a black-crowned night heron. I raced to sketch the bird into my drawing. After a few minutes the heron walked down the branch, snatched a fish out of the river, and gobbled it down.
When herons have their focus locked on hunting, their fear of interlopers tends to be outweighed by the promise of a meal. Otherwise they are skittish birds, especially, I’ve found, the herons in this little haven. I shifted to photograph the bird, and maybe that’s why the black-crowned night heron immediately took flight.
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