River guardians
Published on HivePostify by @pardinus · Thu Jun 25 2026
Well, don't really know how good of a guardian are they... but they'll have to do. Since the theme for this week's [SMAP](https://peakd.com/hive-106444/@nelinoeva/feathered-friends-show-me-a-9bdf46313669d) is free, I'll place in the spotlight these beauties that stood in Nile's margin, watching the boats go by.
Grey heron - Ardea cinerea
Grey herons are widespread, and easily stand out given its characteristic plummage with white, black and grey (of course!) and their huge size.
I lost count of how many I've seen in a small strech of the Nile river, during a boat tour. Most of them were perched along the trees in the margin; in this area, there were also small rocky islets with sparse vegetation, and yes, you guessed it: they were there too!
I can imagine these locations were better for hunting, although most of the ones I've seen were just soaking on the sun, while chit-chatting with the also ever-present cormorants.
Preening the feathers was also a common behaviour; the upper heron may have overdone her preening a bit too much... either that or someone was having a really bad hair(feather) day!
By far, the ones at the margin were the ones I enjoyed getting on camera the most. The green of the trees and the heron's colours had a nice contrast with the sandy slopes nearby. Just too bad I coulnd' get any closer, but still, the birdwatching and mini photography session were a great add-on to the boat tour!
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Tags: #smap#birding#photography#photofeed#contest#featheredfriends#neoxian