Gig Herons

Overview

The Gig Herons is the name given to a group of black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) that have taken on the souls of dead Oaklanders in order to help deal with the city's graftopus problem. It is generally believed that the Gig Herons would not have come about had it not been for the demise of the Ghost Monkeys, who previously kept the graftopus problem in check.

The Gig Herons roost in two groups of trees located at the corners of Alice & 14th st. and Harrison and 12th st. in Oakland, CA. not far from Lake Merritt.

Appearance

Gig herons have the appearance of the typical black-crowned night herons of the area. But at night, when hunting and killing graftopi, their eyes glow with a pale blue light and shine like dim headlights.

Name

The name "Gig Herons" comes from their method of graftopus hunting. Gig Herons will fly up to an unsuspecting graftopus, fold its wings at the last second, and plunge beak-first into the graftopus' head, "gigging" it and taking off again before the target has a chance to get a tentacle on the bird. Often several herons will team up to "gig" a large graftopus multiple times.

Gig Herons as Protectors of Oakland

With the demise of the last ghost monkey, Oakland was beset by the weirdness that comes with unchecked graftopus incursions. It is believed that to relieve the weirdness, the spirit of the City reached out to the souls of the recently deceased who had a passionate love for Oakland. These souls were given the chance to give back to the city they loved for a little while before moving on, and were temporarily ensouled into the bodies of Lake Merrit Black-Crowned Herons.

Limits To Gig Heron Effectiveness

Several critics have pointed out that there are significant limits to the effectiveness of Gig Herons in controlling the graftopus problem. First, there is a limited number of them. Not every soul that dies within Oakland has the love and commitment to the city required, and not all those who love the city that much are willing to stay before passing on. And souls with too much unresolved issues from their life are too likely to end up a ghost, and therefore not suitable.

Also, the Gig Herons are largely tied to the vicinity of Lake Merritt and the surrounding streets, particularly the southeast side close to their nesting trees. This leaves a significant part of the city open to graftopus incursions through the streams, waterways, culverts, estuaries, and storm drains of the city.

Most significantly to some, the Gig Herons eat only a small bit of their prey and leave the stinking, causic-ink-leaking carcass wherever it died. Cleaning up rotting graftopus and the associated beaks scars/ink stains off your driveway in the morning sucks ass.

Questions about the source of Gig Herons

No one has as of yet come forth with a definitive explanation of why humans souls are inhabiting the bodies of local birds to hunt graftopi. Local magicians, shamans, and curanderas are relatively convinced that it is not the activity of The Shield, but it is obviously some entity that is concerned fro the wellbeing of the City and its residents.

Category: Mystical Oakland

Published under the terms of the CC BY 3.0 license.