Herman

We were hungry when we got to Hawaii, so one of the first things we did was sit down to eat a couple of the world’s most expensive hot dogs and drink the world’s most expensive half-cup of soda.  While we were enjoying our 36-dollar lunch, I spotted this odd, neckless bird eyeing a pond full of cichlids:

I was hoping he would go for it, but he just stood there watching for the longest time.  We kept running into him around the garden area and I was fascinated.  He didn’t seem to have any friends and he was a little creepy, the way he would just sit motionless and stare at the fish like he was willing them into his mouth:

I named him Herman.  Naming him seemed the polite thing to do, if I was going to stalk him for the duration of my vacation, which I did (Mark humors my little obsessions).  Every time we were out and about, my head was on a swivel looking for Herman.  Once we found him drawing a crowd as he paced excitedly next to a man who was sitting on the lanai and throwing bread to the cichlids.  I thought for sure this time he would try for a fish, but we gave up and moved on before he did.

By the way, Herman is a black-crowned night heron, but he can be found hunting (or hanging creepily in the shadows) at all hours.  And it turns out he does have a neck, but he most definitely does not have any idea how much smaller he is than the monster koi at the Hilton:

Wonder what Herman is doing right now.  Just kidding, I can guess exactly what he’s doing!