As we approach the height of summer, we look around at those who live nearby. Have you ever asked yourself, “What makes a great neighbor? “ It seems to me that good neighbors:
- Care for their property, creating a pleasant place to return home.
- Respect the privacy of others. The fact is that some folks like to keep to themselves, and that is their right.
- Enhance the neighborhood with beauty, creating a wonderful place to return home.
- Keep the peace. Noise can be incredibly irritating.
- Manage themselves, and their children. They don’t engage in wild parties. Their children are well behaved.
Much of the year we live on the marshlands at Stone Harbor. While we have lovely human neighbors, our very special backyard neighbors actually meet all the criteria above, save an occasional visit to our property without an engraved invitation.
But, in truth, we are thrilled when they visit spontaneously. Our neighbors to the back consist of herons, egrets, minnows, turtles, cormorants, teensy mud crabs, snails, sparrows; these are perhaps the best neighbors one could hope for. They bring a dimension of grace, fascination, and beauty to our world that is unparalleled in any other neighborhood we have inhabited.
As far as the eye can see, lush green marshland surrounds, punctuated by deep grey-green water with a current that keeps it moving. Up close, the water is mesmerizing as it swirls insistently in its path to the Intracoastal Waterway two doors away.
Just to the far side of the water, herons and egrets glide casually as they search for food or bring it home to their babies, safely tucked in secret corners of the deeply layered marshes that protect them.
On June 20, 2016, I walked to the end of our deck to greet John as he sat alone. “You just missed it. An egret walked right in front of me oblivious that I was there. He had a fish in his mouth, but he needed to get it into the right position to swallow it, so he tossed the fish into the air. It fell to the mud, and he picked it up and tossed it again till he got the head going in his mouth first. If he didn’t do that he could die from the damage, the fins could do to his throat. But he finally got it in the right way. I could watch it go down. ”
John, the man, the head of publishing Biological Abstracts, was delighted.
Egrets have become my favorite birds. A bit of research helped me understand more about their habits:
- Our egret neighbors are family birds, just like we are. Male and female Snowy Egrets take turns incubating their eggs and care for the young when they hatch.
- Our exquisite neighbors were the object of poachers who wanted to sell their feathers. Plume-hunting for the fashion industry killed many Snowy Egrets and other birds until reforms were passed in the early twentieth century. The recovery of shorebird populations through the work of concerned citizens was an early triumph and helped give birth to the conservation movement.
- Our long legged neighbors have very sexy feet. Adult Snowy Egrets have greenish-yellow feet but in the breeding season their feet take on an orange-yellow hue.
- Our snowy neighbors like to play around with other birds. Highly social all year long, Snowy Egrets forage with gulls, terns, ibises, and other herons and they nest in colonies alongside Great Egrets, night-herons, and other species of birds.
- Our elegant neighbors do not live long enough. The oldest Snowy Egret on record was at least 17 years, 7 months old. Their biggest continuing threat is habitat loss: their future depends on coastal wetland conservation.
Perhaps your neighbors’ feet do not change color during mating season, but there may be other fascinating qualities about them.
Neighbors are literally the folks we come home to, for good or bad. For your sake, I hope they enhance your world as our exquisite neighbors enhance our summers on the marshlands.
To Consider: Who are your favorite neighbors and why? Have you let them know you enjoy living near them? Might that be worth doing?
To Explore:
- Parsons, K. C., and T. L. Master. 2000. Snowy Egret (Egretta thula). In The Birds of North America Online, No. 489 (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.
Find Dr. Judith Coche in her office near these Marshlands in Stone Harbor and at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Reach her through www.cochecenter.com, her practice in Clinical Psychology,
