Blazer and I went out yesterday evening to feed the “back yard folks” – mostly raccoons, foxes and an occasional opossum.
First, we surprised a great blue heron down in the stream. These are the most ungainly of all God’s creatures. On a good day they look as if they’ll never get airborne, and when you catch them between the steep banks of a creek, it is even more unlikely that they will manage to reach any sort of altitude. And I somehow doubt the dog barking his head off helped one bit. Much thrashing about and squawking. I swear that bird was cursing up on side and down the other.
And then we were startled – a mutual deal – by a small herd of deer bolting off in all directions. They were grazing in the right-of-way behind the barn, and several of them went crashing into the woods while two high-tailed it down the bank and up the other side of the stream.
High-tailed. And that’s where that expression came from!
Blazer, poor bozo, didn’t know which way to dart. He was quite disappointed that none of his new friends were willing to come back and play, no matter how much he begged.
thisendoftheswamp 
There’s nothing I love more than a good doggy story. Thanks for sharing! BTW, do you live in FL or LA?
Blue herons bear out the link between birds and dinosaurs.