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.
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 🙂
Thanks very much for checking these out and glad you enjoyed seeing the heron in action!
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.
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.
That’s what I expected and was trying to figure how to give mouth to mouth. (joke joke)
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.
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.
It never fails to amaze me what these birds will catch and attempt to eat. Small animals even. Crazy.
Fabulous photos, Phil. You both had a good catch. 🙂
This heron was quite active and fun to watch!
All the day’s snacks make a meal…..eventually. Nice stop action on the splashes…especially those flying water drops.
Thanks Steve, it was fun watching this guy fish.
A truly amazing sequence with brilliant clarity.
Thanks a bunch, glad you liked seeing the GBH at work.
That was a big splash. Beautiful sequence.
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.
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!
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.
Wow. Fantastic series. It went deep for that one.
Thanks for checking these out and glad you liked them. He seemed quite determined for sure.
Beautiful series, you have great nature and such beautiful creatures and great shots of them. Love them all.
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
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.
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. 🙂
The colours of this gorgeous bird, the detail of the water splash – everything about these shots is brilliant! You clever man!
Thanks a million Maggie! Glad you liked seeing the GBH in action!