The elusive green heron

It's finally raining, flowing down the window in a steady, blurry stream. Only two soggy crows came by to see what I would feed them as I cleaned out the fridge into the yardwaste bin. It's molting season, and one of them is covered in white spots, Spot being my comic book character name for crows in general. It seemed a bit more shy, so I don't know if its one of the regulars.

On one of my weekly walks through the old fill, I stopped to look at the sign of species that have been seen there. One of these was the green-backed heron (Butorides striatus). I've never seen one before, but decided that if the sign says they exist there, there is a good chance I could find one. (As an aside, I remember coming across someone mentioning that they had seen red-breasted sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) and shortly thereafter, while walking down a street near in the University District, I came across one hopping up the side of spruce tree. This was on January 4, 2009-I wrote it down. Haven't seen another since.) So, for the past couple of months I've been looking for the heron. Somehow I felt sure I would see one last week. I went on Thursday after work, not many birds in the fill in general that day, but a couple of people with spotting scopes, so thought that there must be something of interest. While nearing one of the ponds, a heron-like form dropped down toward the water, hunched body, but neck somewhat extended. It looked smaller than a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), so I thought, maybe. And worked my way over to a spot where I could get a glimpse. I saw a great blue heron along the water, and a female mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), but no other birds. Went further east toward the lake, saw a couple of smaller birds fly into the cattails, reddish-brown head, but didn't get a great look, possibly could've been mergansers of some kind. Came back on the following day no birds at all in the pond. At the lake, some people mentioned something about a duck (I thought) being close to the shore. I walked past, and when they were gone, came back to see what they were looking at. There was a duck, but right next to it, the elusive green-backed heron. Very cool, very small. What I had seen the previous day, must not have been the same bird. I wasn't that close to it, but my presence must have alarmed it, it was jerking it's tail. It hopped over to another log, and I got a better look at it. It was about the size of a large crow, definitely smaller than the duck (a mallard, again). Seeing the size in a book means little to me, I'm a poor judge of size, seeing it next to another bird for comparison, is helpful. I say this because I was expecting and looking for a larger bird, and in doing so, have probably missed seeing it in the past. I wonder if this heavy rain would make for better viewing of wildlife in general? 'Til next time.
(Incidently, it's 1:55 pm pst and 47 degrees F with the windchill factor, plus it's snowing at 7,000'. What happened to summer?)