Great Blue Heron

Lake Conroe

After meditating and listening to the sounds four times, I finally got the same power animal twice. Thus, I decided that it was a sign that I did find my totem animal. My fascination with flying and swimming has always characterized my daydreams, and when playing the game “would you rather” I could never decide whether I would want to be a bird or a fish. In this case, it is a way to sort of beat the system. I grew up seeing the Great blue herons in lake Conroe. My grandparents had a house on the lake and we used to wake up early to watch them hunt. When I think of them it warms my heart with childhood memories. After doing further research on the Great Blue Heron, I realized that it suits me even better than I had originally thought!

The Great Blue Heron has the best of both worlds, the sky and the sea. They can explore depths as well as heights. They are great opportunists, feeding on a wide range of small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles when possible, but their normal diet consists of small fish. Individuals usually forage while standing in water, but will also feed in fields or drop from the air, or a perch, into water. As large wading birds, Great Blue Herons are able to feed in deeper waters, and thus are able to harvest from niche areas not open to most other heron species. They have a great sense of site fidelity as they are inclined to renest in the same area year after year. They also upgrade and reuse old nests, constantly bettering their environment. 

"Animal totems, like the tiger, come from the Other Side
to protect us while we are away from Home"-Sylvia Browne

I feel that animal and human spirits intertwine as we are all earthlings. Maybe we were an animal in our past life or maybe we might be in the future. "Power animals, rather than being associated with a family or a group, are specific and personal for each individual (Farmer, 397)." I feel like I have a special affinity to the Great Blue Heron, as I feel connected to birds. I don't really know what it is that I find so fascinating, maybe something about the way they glide, maybe something about their freedom. The Heron is to me as the Tower is to Bill Moyers, they both act as constants, never changing in an ever-changing world. "And for [Moyers] to return from the atmosphere of a vagrant sojourner, which is what journalism is, you go from place to place, restless, homeless, this is the earth to which [he] always returns."