Big Effort Small Reward

This morning I was watching a great blue heron fishing in the marsh. The first time I saw him strike the water he made a big splash but came up empty.

A few minutes later he did catch a small fish that he seemed happy with, but not likely the whopper he was hoping for.

I saw him catch three or four small fish like that before he flew off. A lot of work for a small breakfast.

26 thoughts on “Big Effort Small Reward”

roughseasinthemed on April 18, 2015 at 5:49 pm said:

I learn about so many birds and other animals on yours and other blogs, and this is def a fave. What gorgeous captures of that plumage. Lovely bird 🙂

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 3:19 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much for checking these out and glad you enjoyed seeing the heron in action!
  
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naturesnippets on April 18, 2015 at 6:25 pm said:

Amazing pictures, especially the two with the splashes. I was at a local lake years ago. It had a one-way road around and caters to duck hunters. A heron stood on a raised dike area, its neck straight up and a huge fish stuck in its throat. Thought I was going to have to give mouth-to-mouth. Luckily the fish finally went down.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 3:22 pm said:
  
  I have seen these birds eat things much bigger than they probably should, and other times realize it won’t go and drop it. Getting a large fish stuck in their neck could kill the bird.
  
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  - naturesnippets on April 19, 2015 at 3:37 pm said:
    
    That’s what I expected and was trying to figure how to give mouth to mouth. (joke joke)
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 6:19 pm said:
      
      We saw one with a huge fish that it spent a lot of time trying to swallow, and then came back the next day and there was a dead GBH in the same area. Was it the same bird? No way to say 100% for a fact, but sure could have been.
      
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      - naturesnippets on April 19, 2015 at 7:00 pm said:
        
        It was painful to watch. I was on a one-way road around a lake and had to pull over for a truck to pass. Sure wish I had seen the swallowing.
        
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        Phil Lanoue on April 20, 2015 at 1:49 pm said:
        
        It never fails to amaze me what these birds will catch and attempt to eat. Small animals even. Crazy.
        
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anotherday2paradise on April 18, 2015 at 8:09 pm said:

Fabulous photos, Phil. You both had a good catch. 🙂

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 3:22 pm said:
  
  This heron was quite active and fun to watch!
  
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Steve Gingold on April 18, 2015 at 8:34 pm said:

All the day’s snacks make a meal…..eventually. Nice stop action on the splashes…especially those flying water drops.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 6:16 pm said:
  
  Thanks Steve, it was fun watching this guy fish.
  
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Gunta on April 18, 2015 at 11:20 pm said:

A truly amazing sequence with brilliant clarity.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 6:16 pm said:
  
  Thanks a bunch, glad you liked seeing the GBH at work.
  
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donna213 on April 19, 2015 at 7:22 am said:

That was a big splash. Beautiful sequence.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 19, 2015 at 6:18 pm said:
  
  Sometimes the biggest miss makes the biggest splash. Today was the opposite. I was watching one heron fish and it hardly had to work at all, just dip in a beak and grab a fish.
  
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jafvisions on April 19, 2015 at 6:54 pm said:

These shots are exceptional. Great Blues are extremely patient. On numerous occasions they have out-waited me and I just give up. I think I have one shot of a blue dunking for food but there’s little splash. Usually I have to get ‘too close’ just to make them move.
Nice work here!

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- Phil Lanoue on April 20, 2015 at 1:48 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much and it’s funny you say that because many a day I have watched a blue heron stand around and never even strike at the water forget about catching anything. But then yesterday, I was watching one in the salt marsh and he must have caught 6 or 7 seven fish just in the short time I was there. He didn’t have to work hard for them either, seemed like he could just dunk his bill into the water and come up with a nice fish. Got pics of that which I’ll post at some point this week.
  
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Lyle Krahn on April 21, 2015 at 8:43 am said:

Wow. Fantastic series. It went deep for that one.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 22, 2015 at 9:11 pm said:
  
  Thanks for checking these out and glad you liked them. He seemed quite determined for sure.
  
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Linda on April 21, 2015 at 4:18 pm said:

Beautiful series, you have great nature and such beautiful creatures and great shots of them. Love them all.

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- Phil Lanoue on April 22, 2015 at 9:13 pm said:
  
  We are lucky to have a variety of wildlife out there and I always enjoy watching them and very happy you like seeing the photos. Thanks
  
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womanseyeview on April 23, 2015 at 3:40 pm said:

I worry about the GBH behind us – not sure he gets enough to eat! I guess they must eat frogs too and by the sound of it there are a lot of those. These are wonderful action shots.

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- Phil Lanoue on May 3, 2015 at 11:52 am said:
  
  They eat all kinds of things, but it’s interesting how some will have preferences. Of course they can’t afford to be too picky. 🙂
  
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foxleylady on April 25, 2015 at 8:55 am said:

The colours of this gorgeous bird, the detail of the water splash – everything about these shots is brilliant! You clever man!

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- Phil Lanoue on May 3, 2015 at 11:53 am said:
  
  Thanks a million Maggie! Glad you liked seeing the GBH in action!
  
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