Birds are so cool. We have lots of wading birds, which is a lot of fun since I didn’t grow up with them around. It is still amazing to me to step outside in the morning and see an ibis in the front yard!
I’d say “Don’t you dare laugh” but you will any way...
We have cranes and herons galore, here, which is kinda weird because we’re in the mountains.
Ordinarily, they hang around my dad’s ponds up on the mountain.
One evening, at dusk, hubby and I were coming up the lane and I happened to glance over at my illuminated backyard fish pond and I -swore- that there was an “alien gray” standing there!
Turned out to be a crane, on one leg, staring intently downwards, waiting for one of my poor, stupid Koi or Comets to rise trusting and oblivious to the surface.
The very next day, I had one of those “artificial alligators” floating in the pond and it never came back.