Althouse: The blue heron flies at dawn.

October 16, 2026

The blue heron flies at dawn.

Video by Meade.

Post title inspired by vaguely familiar Hollywood spyspeak... or perhaps by that Jack Benny movie that only I remember.

19 comments:

Lazarus said...: Use the code, for pete's sake.

What you should have said is, "The invasion begins at dawn."; 10/16/26, 11:05 AM
bagoh20 said...: My nemesis! Which I think I have finally defeated thanks to some suggestions here. I got the fake coyote and put him on an island in the middle of my pond, and have not seen a single heron visit since. My lovely fish family thanks you.; 10/16/26, 11:22 AM
Jaq said...: Bottle rockets work too, they stop coming back.

I remember once I was driving on 87 through Plattsburgh and an osprey flew overhead with a sizable koi in its talons, which was funny to me, but maybe not so much to the guy with the pond.; 10/16/26, 11:35 AM
Big Mike said...: Jack Benny’s movie has since been eclipsed, first by “Ishtar” and now by “Digger.”; 10/16/26, 11:53 AM
Scott Patton said...: She better duck.; 10/16/26, 11:56 AM
Kai Akker said...: The eagle flies on Friday; 10/16/26, 12:01 PM
Leora said...: I remember that movie. Particularly the coffee billboard.; 10/16/26, 12:37 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/26, 12:58 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/26, 12:59 PM
imTay said...: "The eagle flies on Friday"

Sure looking that way.; 10/16/26, 1:42 PM
Wilbur said...: Jack Benny inimitably realized that the character and name he created was not really him, Benny Kubelski from Waukegan. That realization gave him the freedom to poke fun at this character in ways no one could. Here he took an under-performing dud of a movie, and successfully mined it for self-deprecating comedy gold for a decade afterwards.

Benny had the boldness to instigate an "I Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest for a two month period in the mid-1940s, with listeners writing in with entries. Over 277,000 entries poured in from listeners completing the sentence "I can't stand Jack Benny because..." Pure genius to me.; 10/16/26, 2:16 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Yes, that does sound like a WW 2/cold war spy password. From the bourne idenity:
• Challenge: "The sparrow flies at midnight."
• Response: "But the owl hunts all night."; 10/16/26, 5:18 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Basically, you need something memorable and easy to recognize and remember. But so different, its impossible to mistake for anything else.

sign - A clown will eat spaghetti
counter sign - But a chef will never laugh; 10/16/26, 5:21 PM
imTay said...: How about this one:
"The eagle flies on Friday"
"That's funny, the oil markets close on Friday."; 10/16/26, 6:44 PM
Narr said...: I remember that JB movie and said so at the time.

But nooooo . . .; 10/16/26, 7:02 PM
Narr said...: Nothing beats the 'ready' code (from Verlaine iirc) for D-Day: The long sobs of the violin in autumn wound my heart with monotonous languor. (But in French.); 10/16/26, 7:06 PM
rehajm said...: …gentlemen to bed, for we leave at 9:30 on the dot…; 10/16/26, 7:36 PM
wildswan said...: I like the way you gradually see that a gray heron is a blue heron as it flies into a more golden light. On the left.

The gray heron is blue at sunrise.
At night all herons are gray.; 10/16/26, 10:16 PM
Jamie said...: My brother's thing, still a fam favorite, was, "The egg has hatched, and the fat man walks alone."; 10/16/26, 11:51 PM