Henry the Heron™ is Ben’s pride and joy.  Created by Ben when he was but a little lad, Henry has withstood the test of time.  After all, he is considered to be Ben’s mascot and logo.  Henry appeared on Ben’s first business card (circa 1997:  Benjamin S. Schwartz, Pianist/Entrepreneur), and even now still graces Ben’s current business cards.  Visitors to BenSchwartz.net will notice Henry’s portrait on the gateway page and also in the top left corner of all pages. 

To understand the ubiquity of Henry the Heron™, it is first important to understand Henry himself.  Henry is a Great White Heron (Ardea herodias occidentalis), a special morph of the Great Blue Heron.  Noted for his distinctive yellow-orange beak and long neck, Henry lives in the Everglades of southern Florida in a little mud house he built himself.  Henry’s best friend is Tuscany Toucan™, a brilliantly colored bird whose fondest dream is to attend an opera at the Sydney Opera House.  Indeed, Tuscany is obsessed with opera to an almost comic degree.  Other characters in Henry’s world include the beautiful Betty Bluebird™ and the villainous Gary Gator™, who often plots to trick Henry, Tuscany, and Betty to their doom.

But what is Henry the Heron™?  Well, besides being Ben’s personal logo and mascot, he is a character which will be featured in a series of children’s books.  Preliminary work is already underway on a The Adventures of Henry the Heron™ title based on an old Greek myth.  Suffice it to say, Gary Gator™ is up to no good, and it’s up to Henry and his friends to harness their brain power in order to stop Gary in his tracks and save Henry’s house.

Beyond The Adventures of Henry the Heron™ series of children’s books, Henry is suited for an introduction in comic strips, comic books, television series, and even full-length animated films.  With the recent explosion in the capabilities of computer-generated three-dimensional imagery, Henry and his mysterious swampy bayou home would be able to be rendered perfectly in a digital world projected onto the silver screen.