Next - the porch swing?

When I walked into our house yesterday, I immediately saw "Denny" Crane standing just off our back porch. I was really surprised to see him/her so close to our house. He/she has been all around the pond this spring, and seems to be spending the better part of every day there, but he/she has always kept their distance from the threat of people. He/she has been doing a lot of sunny as well as hunting fish in the pond. I think it's the same crane, but it could be several cranes, who all look just a like, dropping in at different times. Who'd know? The only thing I could think of as to why he/she was so close to the porch is that the new wood radiates heat from the sun shining on it. I put a temperature gage on one of the posts, but once the sun starts working on the porch, it's always way higher than the actual temperature because of all the warm wood. He/she only let me snap two pictures before he/she flew ot the opposite side of the pond to sun over there. I'm amazed that he/she could see or sense my movement through the door window and in the darkened house. They've got awesome eye sight, which is why they don't miss many times when they stab the water with their long bills and come up with a fresh little pond perch for dinner.
I'm sure there's a lesson there somewhere, but I just wanted you to see one of the reasons why we really like where we live and why I build our porch. Oh, and there's some neat people here too!