Is that a bridge troll?

Bridge trolls: Mythical creatures that live under bridges and eat those who attempt to cross their bridge.

Great Blue Heron: Large bird that hunts fish and bugs at the water's edge using a patient waiting, then quick snapping at opportune moments method.

So why is this heron being a bridge troll?

We were recently at VanDusen Botanical Gardens taking photographs on a bright sunny summer day. When we got to this little bridge that crosses a pond we found a large group of people sitting or standing on the end of the bridge. It took a minute, but then we saw the Great Blue Heron that was standing in the middle of the bridge. None of the humans wanted to disturb the bird, so they were not crossing the bridge. More humans were standing on the other side of the bridge, they did not want to disturb the bird either.

Cameras were clicking and "wow" was being uttered. The bird occasionally snapped a dragon fly out of the air. This went on for a good 15 minutes. Most of the humans got bored and wandered away from the bridge, not crossing it. 

So this heron was in control of the situation, he was being the bridge troll, not letting anyone cross the bridge.

It's amazing how wild animals can figure out humans and be in control of a situation like this. The heron was not timid. He was confident he had the situation under control and did quite a bit of stretching and scratching while standing on the bridge.

Real animals must have been the spark for the old bridge troll stories, but I wonder if they were all birds.

(Click on the image to see a bigger image.)