On March 2, 2011, I noticed that a body was lying on the bank of the Tenakill Brook, Tenafly, New Jersey, 07670. For so many years I had seen herons of this type walk in the brook and when approached they lift off, with a wing spread that was astonishing. It was Tenafly's Big Bird. Now it is no more. Unable to haul it away and do an autopsy, I could not determine why it had died: age, attack by another animal, disease or was it the pollutants in the brook that caused cancers or weakened the animal's immune system? Only a scientific examination could pinpoint its death. I mourn this beautiful creature, probably the last of its kind in Tenafly.
