Avian street performer works the waterfront crowd

I don't know if it is because I truly like birds or if I just like finding things to take pictures of. But when I take Louise for her walks, I tend to notice a lot of the birds in Vancouver. Including this fellow, who was fishing in the fountain in front of the Westin Bayshore.

He was surprisingly close to pedestrian traffic and was not bothered by us at all. It kind of felt like being at a zoo. Keep in mind that my compact camera only has a 3x zoom, so I had to be closer than about 10 feet to get photos like these.

You know, I just realized that after getting the photos of this heron, I really didn't notice any of the other birds on the rest of that walk.

I was really hoping to catch him in the act of spearing a fish, but maybe that was too much to ask for. When the dog and I returned ten minutes later (after visiting the dogs hanging out at the newest Starbucks in town) I was a little surprised to see the bird still there. Crowds of people would gather for five or ten minutes and then just as quickly disperse. I'm sure if this bird had an upside down hat near the pond he could have made enough to buy a fish dinner.

I guess it's just another one of the cool things about living in Vancouver. It's not quite urban enough to prevent nature from dropping in.