my name is Harry and I am a great blue heron

I live in the marsh near Turville Creek

you might have seen me fishing there

or flying between my favorite spots to hang out

I remember growing up in the nest with my siblings

our parents brought us food every day

We would sing songs and play games in the nest

but when we got big we just got kicked out one day

We had to learn to fly around and catch our own food

now you might think that being a heron is a really cool life

but let me tell you that I face lots of daily challenges

survival in nature requires a lot of hard work and constant vigilance

we used to have this place all to ourselves 

but people started building houses all along the coastline

taking up more and more of our homeland

I am very scared of humans and fly away when they get close

when fishing I have to stand very still in the water 

its so hard to keep focussed on catching a fish 

my mind keeps wandering off and I think about finding a mate and having chicks

then a fish swims by and I am too slow to catch him

the other day I saw this really pretty girl heron 

she flew into the pool near me and started preening her feathers to attract me

I pretended not to notice her and with massive concentration caught a huge fish

I held it in my beak for her to see and she came close

she looked at me with those big beautiful hungry eyes

I gave her the fish and said you can have it hoping it would lead to sex

she just took it and flew off without even a kiss or a thank you 

I caught no more fish that day and went to sleep hungry

the next day I got chased off the water by those bald eagle thugs

then that girl heron showed up again and wanted to get all friendly

I was not interested in her teasing game so I said to her “bugger off and find your own dinner!”

I am the tall lanky lonely horny hungry sex starved great blue heron with an attitude