Great Blue Herons in Myth and Legend

Here's another Great Blue Heron I saw at Duke Island Park last summer. (The park was teeming with them on this day.) This one was wading through the mud and muck foraging for food.

Though these big birds are ecologically interesting, herons have also sparked mankind's imagination for millennia. While the Celtic and Greco-Roman worlds had their differences (more or less settled by Roman conquest), they agreed on one thing: Herons (possibly the Gray Heron, Eurasia's Great Blue Heron look-alike) were messengers of the gods. The next time you see a heron, feel free to give them a message for Brigid, Athena, or their colleagues. (I suspect that the stature and demeanor of (some) herons seemed a little otherworldly to ancient civilizations, inspiring at connection to higher powers.)

September 1, 2022 at Duke Island Park
Photo 238907248, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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