Nature in motion

We went to the Japanese Gardens over Fourth of July weekend. My grandparents used to take my brother and I when we were young, and now I like to go there about once a year. It's very peaceful and beautiful, but the best part of our visit was The Bird. We've been trying to figure out what kind of bird he was since this happened. We were sitting in one of the many gazebos, feeding the koi and turtles, and all of sudden this bird flew up and landed on a branch above the water, about three feet away from us. He was grayish blue and pretty big, as big as some of those big ole crows that we get, and he had a really long skinny feather going from the back of his neck down his back, mullet style. Jav wondered if he was native to our area, and we both decided he probably wasn't. Then we wondered if he was brought in on purpose, or if he was migrating and discovered a Garden of Eden and decided to stay a while. He remained very, very still for a LONG time. We thought he wanted some of our fish food. But he had no interest and just kept sitting really still and watching us. All of a sudden, he dove in and came up with a fish! He swallowed it in about three or four big gulps, then fluffed out his feathers on the back of his neck, and flew away. We were awestruck, and feeling a little humbled that we didn't figure out that he wanted was not our fishfood, but what we were feeding with our fishfood. I know he must've been sitting there thinking, "and they call me a birdbrain!"