Two months ago, I saw a heron on the shore by the Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo. At least, I think it was a great blue heron. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) I sat on a bench and watched it for a long time and wished I had my camera with me. The bird was too far away to get a decent shot with my iPhone.
Since then I have seen that heron, or one very much like it, a few times while on my walks along the harbour front. It is always alone. Once I saw it fly to the top of a tree and stay there, and I wondered where herons nest.
Today, when I first woke up and looked outside my window, there it was!
It must have known that I needed my camera with the long lens. Thank you, heron, for being so considerate. I have just spent half an hour taking your photo from the comfort of my living room.
Just before it flew away, it got a little closer.
Snowbird of Paradise 
It looks like one to me but I’m not expert 😉
Thanks, June. I based my identification on Google images, but there are birders out there who know a lot more.
I love your photos if the heron. They are loners and quite aloof and elusive birds. When Dad, Harry, moved in with Krystyna, they renamed the house The Herons, and they put two or three heron statues in the garden. He never did get the fact that they are loners birds, so his choice of naming the house The Herons is an interesting one.
That is very interesting, Gill. I didn’t know herons were loners but the one I keep seeing certainly proves it. Now I’m wondering why Harry and Krystyna called their house The Herons.
We have one that hangs out near our boat, sometimes at the top of the mast. When we drove our boat up stream for 4 days we saw them fly away from their space on the side of the river about every 1/2 mile or so. Majestic birds, and I never tire of seeing “Big Blue” which is my name for him or her.
How wonderful! I have really enjoyed just watching this bird. It stays really, really still for a really long time.