Here he is with one of the gunnels he had for lunch.
At the low tide line
"What do I see there?"
"Caught it!"
Very much alive. And flipping madly.
Flip
Flip
Flip
Between flips, the heron would shake the gunnel violently. I couldn't catch that; the action was too fast, just a blur.
Stunned?
No. It's flipping again.
"Whew! Almost lost it there!"
Getting a better grip. Flip!
Got it by the middle, now.
Sliding the fish up towards the mouth. Still twisting back and forth.
Gulp!
"Ahhhh! That was delicious!"
That's a really nice series of shots. I love to watch herons hunt. Except when they're cleaning all the tadpoles out of my water garden.
ReplyDeleteI have seen herons fishing before, but never have I seen them catching! This is a wonderful series of photos!!!
ReplyDeleteSuper series of the Great Blue Heron fishing Susannah! That last shot where the bird is all puffed up is my favorite. It looks like it just did the "get that down the gullet" shake!
ReplyDeletewonderful series of photos! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAmazing captures and blog here! So the heron was really able to gulp down three of those (all similar to this prey's size?) really?? I wonder, wouldn't the desperate prey stand any slim chance of escaping or even damaging (biting etc.) the bird's throat/stomach if eaten in that condition!? Hard to imagine the fish/eel would give in so easily as just another meal once inside!
ReplyDelete-Kyle
I doubt that there is any hope for the gunnel once it's swallowed. Herons eat many of these daily; the acid in the stomach probably stuns the fish pretty quickly.
ReplyDelete