Could be a long winter

DE LEON SPRINGS, FL - - We returned to De Leon Springs today to see if we could catch some more action. The Immature Blue Heron I posted last week was there again. This time I noticed something different which may curtail this bird growing to a ripe old age. Note in the top picture that the bird is favoring a limp right leg.

In the photo below you can see that he also has a problem with keeping the leg alongside the other to streamline his flying. A problem like this could make it hard to hunt and, maybe, give other birds the opening to steal his food.