Context Means Lots

Context. As a writer and as a former English teacher I understand the power of context. Whatever it is we are considering, the elements that surround it and affect it mean everything. For example, two years ago a great blue heron found its way onto the berm around my pond and stood there, eyeing the koi below. I chased him and thought I had scared him. I had not.

He returned and gored a four-pond koi. The fish was apparently too large for the heron to eat, and the bird got no meal from the deal, but the koi wound up in my pond skimmer and died soon after. I had to string fishing line all around and across the pond to prevent the heron from returning to finish his meal. A great blue around or in my pond -- in that context -- is something I do not wish to see again.

Yesterday as I took a walk down my block and got to the retention pond only about two hundred yards away, a snowy egret was standing in that pond eyeing the surface, apparently looking for an unsuspecting fish. When I got close enough for a photo, he spread those impressive wings and flew across the pond. That mere two hundred yards -- that differing context -- made all the difference. No fishing line, no chasing, just some photography. My favorite shows the massive wingspan just as he was about to fold the wings and step back into the water. Wonder if he found a meal.

He is welcome down there as far as I am concerned -- as long as he stays down there!