When wading birds are around a perch of any sort rarely goes unoccupied. When I first arrived at this pond just after sunup a Great Blue Heron was surveying the scene from a piece of driftwood. In the low light it looked a bit like an alligator.

Twenty minutes later the GBH had moved on and his spot had been quickly occupied by a Snowy Egret, with two Grackles closing in. Possession of such a coveted spot is a fluid thing.