“Heron, 3 o’clock!” shouts Mike, his voice piercing the still morning air. Off to our right, a great blue heron perches proudly on a log at the river’s edge, as if he’s guarding the river like a sentry. After the cleanup of the Cuyahoga and surrounding habitat, these majestic creatures have come back to nest in this once-polluted area. Since the 1970s, blue herons and bald eagles have slowly reappeared along the river, their numbers now believed to be in the hundreds.