We don't like this guy hanging around so much. He needs to vamoose. We all went out to the dock and stomped around and made noise, trying to scare him away.
He did swim away.
Unfortunately, we think we know where his home is now.
Our neighbors don't have a bulkhead. They have a lot of weeds and vegetation around their dock. Guess where the 'gator headed?
He swam right over to the weeds and then he disappeared. We think he (she?) has a nest in there.
We were discussing our new, not so nice neighbor when this little guy flew onto our dock...
He started walking towards us...
And he sat about a foot away, cocking his head and listening to us talk...
He was so close that I could have reached out and touched him.
I didn't though....that beak looked mighty sharp!
When the kids started to walk back to the house, he started following them. Even though he was adorable and had the cutest little greenish feet, we didn't think it would be a good idea for him to come in the house. Jack and Lucy probably wouldn't have been as enthusiastic as us.
So The Boy threw the cast net out and caught a few mullet and it's possible that he might have accidentally dropped a couple of mullet on the dock...sort of near our new friend...and our new friend may or may not have eaten them. Which probably wouldn't have been a smart thing to do, had it not been completely accidental, which it totally was! Because we all know better than to feed the wildlife.
We did some research (we googled) and we think he is a juvenile green heron. He should look a bit like this as an adult...
Our new little friend is so cute...the other one, not so much.
