Birds are so overhyped…

Like don’t get me wrong, I think birds are cool. They’re just not cooler than other animals, you know?

I don’t really understand why birdwatching is a perfectly acceptable social activity, but when you ask people if they want to go spiderwatching, they always seem to have other plans.

All of this is to say that a bird has to work extra hard to grab my attention if it wants to be featured on this website – and that’s precisely what this Capped Heron has been doing.

As soon as the clock hits 5pm each day, that’s my cue to go for a walk around the lake here at Manu Biological Station. It’s a nice end to every work day, and nine times out of ten, one of the first creatures I see is this Capped Heron.

But it never just sits there. This bird knows how to play hard-to-get.

It’ll notice you first, and then just as you lift your camera, it’ll flick its majestic head-feathers and fly to the other end of the lake. Then it sits there, knowing full well that you’re going to walk all the way over there to get another look.

Thankfully, however, this bird doesn’t understand the concept of a telephoto lens.

Brodie 1, Capped Heron 0.

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Capped Heron (Pilherodius pileatus), Manu Biological Station, Peru