It is always nice having some entertainment at breakfast.  I normally get up first, check my email, and have a couple of cups of coffee.  Usually things are pretty quiet here on our little gut which runs out to the White Oak River.

This morning was a little different.  First I noticed a white heron wading and fishing in the open water of the little swampy area in the vacant lot next to us.

A few minutes later, a blue heron showed up to challenge the white heron for the tiny pool of open water.  I have never seen herons fight for their territory.

While the birds did not actually fight, they were very aggressive towards each other.

The blue heron is a very large and impressive bird.  That did not seem to matter.  The white heron did not back down when the blue heron tried to chase him out of the water. 

The blue heron is also very skittish and camera shy, and he might have seen me taking pictures through the window, but for whatever reason, he backed up and flew away.

It is now about an hour after the first confrontation, and we have seen the blue heron make another try at taking over the swampy spot.  The white heron held his swamp once again.

Now the white heron is out on dry ground standing guard over the open water of the swampy spot.  He seems to be enjoying the morning sun while watching for intruders.  I guess things are tough for birds looking for open shallow water.

I posted lots of pictures of the confrontation, but I only managed to catch them together in this one shot.