The heron that's been fishing the same spot for three years

There's a great blue heron that fishes the same twenty feet of creek bank near my house, and I've been half-tracking it for three years now — same hunting posture, same patient stillness, same spot down to the rock it favors.

I used to think wildlife sightings were random. This one taught me otherwise: a lot of what looks like coincidence is just an animal running a routine you haven't noticed yet, because you weren't walking that path at the right hour enough times in a row to see the pattern.

I don't know if it's the same actual bird every time — herons aren't individually marked and I'm no ornithologist. But the behavior is identical enough, visit after visit, that "the same heron" has become the story I tell myself, and I've stopped needing it to be scientifically certain to enjoy it.

Related reading: The Beginner's Guide to Noticing More on Every Walk Outside.